Luo Ruoxin

Luo Ruoxin, whose true name is Nie Lingxi and who is better known in the Firmament as God Monarch Lingxi, is the ruler of the Sky of Freedom and the overseer of the Heavens' Nature. She descends through the lower worlds under the Luo Ruoxin persona to recover the Great Codex of Spring and Autumn and find a way to restore her father, whom she believes to be the incapacitated heavens of the Firmament. During that mission she meets and falls in love with Zhang Xuan, even though his possession of the Heavens' Imperfection makes him a possible future opponent in the War of the Heavens. Her academy teacher, supposed Luo Clan member, apparent Spirit God, and God Monarch identities are therefore not separate people: they are successive revelations of the same woman, whose secrecy is shaped by cross-world limitations and her duty to a collapsing Firmament.

Biography

The teacher who would accept no students

Luo Ruoxin first enters Zhang Xuan's public life as the young woman accompanying Mu Yuan to Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy. Mu Yuan presents her as his junior, a six-star master teacher who will teach at the academy, but that rank is part of the identity she uses while suppressing her true strength in the lower world. Even through a disguise that dulls her appearance, her bearing draws attention. Her first lecture demonstrates knowledge of the relationship between body and soul on a level comparable to the principles Zhang Xuan derives from the Library of Heaven's Path. She then sets an intentionally impossible admission test—reading ten thousand books in two hours—and ends the session without accepting a single student, suggesting that the teaching post gives her institutional cover rather than a class she genuinely intends to build. (Chapters 726 and 762)

Their actual first meeting occurred earlier on Verdant Mountain. Luo Ruoxin had already killed the powerful spirit beast there when Zhang Xuan, mistaking her situation for danger, rushed forward to protect her despite the difference in their strength. She repaid that unneeded but sincere intervention by resolving the incompatibility between his soul and body. By the time they meet again at Hongyuan, she has also recognized that he is a Celestial Master Teacher and possesses the Eye of Insight, facts that explain why she seeks his help rather than treating him as an ordinary academy student. His courage interests her before his cultivation can be useful to her mission. (Chapters 761 and 830)

Luo Ruoxin asks Zhang Xuan to help locate Kong shi's true Saint Ascension Platform. She knows that the surviving public sites and inscriptions are imitations and that copying a predecessor's insights can distort rather than complete one's own path. In the concealed region they explore together, she identifies folded space, understands clues connected to Kong shi, and navigates dangers that ordinary six-star master teachers could not explain. This establishes the basis of their partnership: she supplies knowledge preserved from a much wider world, while he can expose hidden structures and reach traces of Kong shi that even she cannot locate alone. The search also foreshadows her real purpose below, since Kong shi's legacy and the Great Codex are connected to the crisis she has descended to solve. (Chapters 830–839)

Qiu Wu Palace and a life acquiring color

Luo Ruoxin later chooses to enter the Firesource City expedition and Qiu Wu Palace despite Mu Yuan's objections to the danger. The choice shows that she is not a passive noblewoman waiting for escorts to determine her movements: she is pursuing an ancient domain and its connection to Kong shi, and she judges Zhang Xuan's abilities important enough to accept the risks. During a nighttime walk she admits to feeling homesick and listens as he describes rising without a powerful background. His unguarded optimism, irreverent jokes, and willingness to speak to her without ceremony let her relax in a way her highly controlled life rarely permits. When he impulsively touches her hand, she flees in embarrassment but returns rather than ending their companionship. (Chapters 1013–1019)

The emotional shift is unusually consequential for Luo Ruoxin. She has lived like a spectator before a still painting, maintaining serenity by refusing attachment; after meeting Zhang Xuan, she experiences anger, amusement, worry, and affection with an intensity unfamiliar to her. Those feelings are not merely romantic decoration. Freedom without desire is central to the path she later cultivates, while her responsibilities to her father and the Firmament already bind her. Loving Zhang Xuan gives life color, but it also creates another bond that makes complete transcendence impossible and leaves her vulnerable to the War she expects will demand sacrifice. (Chapters 1019 and 1037; Chapter 2264)

Within Qiu Wu Palace, Luo Ruoxin's knowledge of spatial manipulation helps distinguish natural and artificial structures, while her concealed combat power becomes unmistakable when she suppresses Skyleaf King during Zhang Xuan's Celestial Saint ordeal. Her worried call also tears him away from the will of an apparent Kong shi at a crucial moment. Much later, the malicious Kong shi's Clone confirms that this interruption prevented it from seizing the Library from a much weaker Zhang Xuan. What first appears to be an unexplained disruption is therefore an early instance of Luo Ruoxin protecting both his life and the Heavens' Imperfection, even though she cannot yet tell him why either matters to her. (Chapters 1038 and 1083–1088; Chapter 2072)

The false Luo Clan assumption

After the two separate, Zhang Xuan combines Luo Ruoxin's surname, age, strength, and secrecy into a mistaken conclusion: he believes that she is the Luo Clan's little princess and that she is engaged to the Zhang Clan's missing young prodigy. He advances through the Sanctum of Sages and the Sage Clans partly to become strong enough to stand beside her, while she remains absent and cannot correct the assumption. The mistake reaches its worst point at the Luo Clan's engagement ceremony, where the veiled woman is actually Luo Qiqi. Luo Ruoxin arrives with Wu Chen, hears Zhang Xuan invoke promises made in Firesource City and Qiu Wu Palace, and reacts with genuine hurt before learning why he confused the two women. (Chapters 1247–1576)

Luo Ruoxin's response reveals both pride and vulnerability. Her birth and obligations have taught her not to devote herself to another person or expose her feelings, and accepting Zhang Xuan was already a leap of faith. Even so, once she understands the misunderstanding, she gives him the chance to leave with her rather than treating his mistake as betrayal. When the Luo Clan attempts to detain or injure him after the broken engagement, she and Wu Chen stand between him and the clan. She does not claim kinship with the Luos, and Luo Xuanqing and Luo Qiqi are not her relatives; the shared surname belongs to the persona she chose from her mother's family name, a truth not explained until the end of the story. (Chapters 1576–1577 and 2264)

She still refuses to reveal everything. Luo Ruoxin says that knowing her identity could harm Zhang Xuan and disrupt a larger scheme, but she explicitly assures him that she is not an Otherworldly Demon and will not harm humanity. She explains that she came to recover something lost by a close relative whom she deeply respects, asks Zhang Xuan to raise his cultivation if he wishes to remain beside her, and avoids over-directing him because she believes protection that limits his growth would ultimately weaken him. The book she obtained from Qiu Wu Palace helps trace the Prime Amulet and the route into the Temple of Confucius. Her secrecy is painful and incomplete, but the later revelation that she is trying to restore her father and prepare for the War of the Heavens confirms that the underlying explanation is true. (Chapters 1582–1590; Chapter 2264)

The Great Codex and the Spirit God's departure

Luo Ruoxin joins Zhang Xuan and Wu Chen in the struggles surrounding the Otherworldly battlefield and the Temple of Confucius. At the Prime Hall, she reaches the Great Codex of Spring and Autumn before the surrounding Ancient Sages can claim it. She resists the Codex, protects Zhang Xuan from the clash around her, and displays strength far beyond the academy identity she has maintained: she can turn aside Ancient Sage attacks while Wu Chen holds other enemies at bay. She eventually tames the Codex, accomplishing the objective that brought her down from the Firmament. Wu Chen's simultaneous exposure as Sovereign Chen Yong, the supreme leader of the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe, makes her association with him look even more threatening, but his deference to her reflects his position as her subordinate rather than her belonging to his tribe. (Chapters 1659–1774)

Assimilating the Great Codex restores so much of Luo Ruoxin's power that the Master Teacher Continent can no longer tolerate her presence. Spatial rifts close around her and force her toward a higher world. The power manifested through the altar resembles the being whom the Otherworldly Demons call the Spirit God, leading Zhang Xuan to fear that she deceived him about her allegiance. She cannot complete her explanation before departure, but she repeats that she has never lied to him and identifies him as the man she loves. The later answer preserves both statements: she is God Monarch Lingxi of the Sky of Freedom, not an Otherworldly Demon, and she had borrowed the Deathless Monarch's Seal of Supreme Monarch to represent the Spirit God and command the rituals required for her descent. “Spirit God” is thus a role she temporarily exercises, not a separate identity or origin. (Chapters 1774–1775 and 2216–2217)

Her departure also conceals a protective gift. Luo Ruoxin places the tamed Great Codex into Zhang Xuan's Library of Heaven's Path, causing an extended upgrade that adds a time-dilated reading chamber and improves the Library's ability to analyze higher-level opponents. She takes the treasure to study the force governing his Heavens' Imperfection, yet ultimately leaves it with him rather than carrying it back for her own use. This act captures the tension governing her choices: she needs knowledge that may help her defeat Kong shi and restore the heavens, but she is unwilling to strip Zhang Xuan of the means to survive the ascent that will eventually bring him back to her. (Chapters 1790–1791 and 1916)

A dangerous road across the Azure

Luo Ruoxin's route through the Azure explains why she can appear in the Master Teacher Continent despite the Firmament's otherwise impassable boundary. She borrows the Deathless Monarch's seal, allowing her to speak with the authority of the Sky of Spirit Origin, and orders the survivors connected to Spirit Origin Royal City to perform the cross-world summoning ritual. Even with that preparation, forcing her way through the barrier gravely injures her. Blood spilled during her descent falls into the Azure's ocean and later enables aquatic beasts to reach Semi-Divinity, leaving a physical trace that Zhang Xuan follows when he is searching for her. (Chapters 2041–2044 and 2217)

She does not remain in the Azure. Wu Chen's further summoning calls her into the Master Teacher Continent, where she obtains the Great Codex, and she then makes the dangerous journey back toward the Firmament. Before leaving the Azure behind, she orders Du Qingyuan to care for Zhang Xuan if he arrives and leaves him a stark message: if she survives the coming life-and-death ordeal, they will meet again; if she does not, he should not grieve. The message is deliberately sparse, but it makes clear that her absence is preparation for a battle she may not survive rather than abandonment of their relationship. (Chapters 2053–2054 and 2103)

The objects and interventions she leaves behind continue acting for her. The Great Codex allows the Library to function more effectively under the Azure's different heavens, while the crimson pendant inherited from her father repeatedly steadies Zhang Xuan when doubts threaten his cultivation. Retrospective evidence also confirms that her call in Qiu Wu Palace saved the Library from Kong shi's malicious clone. Luo Ruoxin cannot accompany Zhang Xuan through each realm without exposing herself or breaking the restrictions between worlds, so her support often takes the form of precautions whose meaning he learns only after surviving the danger they were meant to answer. (Chapters 1916, 2072–2073, and 2237)

God Monarch Lingxi and the War of the Heavens

In the Firmament, the Deathless Monarch finally recognizes Luo Ruoxin through the pendant and names her as God Monarch Lingxi of the Sky of Freedom. The name “Lingxi,” which she had once used while Zhang Xuan called himself Luo Tianya, was not another fabrication but an indirect disclosure of her true given name, Nie Lingxi. The Spirit God title is likewise clarified through the borrowed seal. These revelations preserve a single identity: the disguised teacher, the woman who denied belonging to the Luo Clan, the figure summoned by Spirit God rituals, and the God Monarch waiting in the Sky of Freedom are all Luo Ruoxin. (Chapters 2216–2217 and 2264)

Her concealment is inseparable from the state of the Firmament. Luo Ruoxin believes that a higher-world strike placed her father in a coma and split the heavens into the Heavens' Order, Heavens' Imperfection, and Heavens' Nature. She has overseen the Nature component and maintained the world's stability, including organizing the grand formation that seals the Firmament's great fissure, but does not own that fragment as Zhang Xuan owns the Library. She descends for the Great Codex because she hopes it will reveal how to prevail over Kong shi, restore the scattered heavens, and awaken her father. She also knows that the Heavens' Imperfection may eventually make Zhang Xuan her opponent. This is why she tries to keep emotional distance even after recognizing his character: telling him too early could provoke the War before either of them is prepared, while loving him makes the required struggle nearly impossible for her to complete. (Chapters 2216 and 2228–2230; Chapters 2240 and 2264)

Luo Ruoxin meets Kong shi on the moon in the anticipated War of the Heavens. Her sword path is elegant and unrestrained but also carries a powerful desire to protect, reflecting the contradiction between the freedom she cultivates and the people and world she refuses to abandon. She and Kong shi agree to honor the outcome if either dies, yet both subconsciously hold back. Luo Ruoxin appears to destroy him and gathers what remains, only to discover later that he used the duel to sever himself from the Heavens' Order and prepared a means of revival. Her grief, Zhang Xuan's anger, and their reconciliation reject the claim that “fate” makes their feelings meaningless; the duel fulfills the War's immediate demand without turning Luo Ruoxin into an unfeeling executioner. (Chapters 2232–2237)

During Vicious's attempt to destroy the Firmament, Luo Ruoxin fights beside Zhang Xuan and the other God Monarchs but cannot overcome the malignant power he has accumulated. She then reveals the full purpose of her mission: her father is the heavens, the blood in her pendant belongs to him, and Little Chick—the Deathless Monarch—was once his tamed beast. When Kong shi returns, Luo Ruoxin joins him in transferring their accumulated cultivation and their understanding of the Heavens' Nature and Order into Zhang Xuan. The transfer reduces both donors to the God King realm, though their experience remains and they can recover with sufficient energy. The pendant's blood later provides the Deathlessness that lets Zhang Xuan resurrect, sever the Library from his soul, transcend the God Monarchs, defeat Vicious, and return the Heavens' Imperfection to the world. (Chapter 2264)

Only after the Firmament is restored does Zhang Xuan learn what Luo Ruoxin herself still did not know: her father Nie Yun was never helpless, had arranged the fragmented-heavens trial to find someone capable of transcending the God Monarchs, and had allowed her to believe he remained unconscious so that her emotions would not disrupt it. He also explains that her mother is Luo Qingcheng and that Lingxi adopted the Luo surname for her lower-world persona. Nie Yun leaves Zhang Xuan to explain the deception rather than facing his daughter's anger himself. Luo Ruoxin is alive in the Sky of Freedom and leaps into Zhang Xuan's embrace when he returns. (Chapter 2264)

At her latest appearance, Luo Ruoxin marries Zhang Xuan under her true name, Nie Lingxi, in a ceremony attended by the Firmament's leading experts. When Nie Yun proposes resolving Luo Qiqi's long-unrequited love by including her in the marriage, Luo Ruoxin does not treat Qiqi as an intruder. She beckons the hesitant woman forward, dresses her as a bride, and joins Zhang Xuan and Luo Qiqi in departing together after the ceremony. The decision closes the jealousy created by Zhang Xuan's old identity mistake with Luo Ruoxin acting from generosity and confidence rather than rivalry. (Chapter 2267)

Appearance and personality

Luo Ruoxin is consistently presented as a young woman of extraordinary beauty and an ethereal, elegant bearing. She often uses a disguise that deliberately dulls her features so that crowds will not gather around her, and the lower-world narration does not establish specific eye or hair colors that remain reliable across that concealment. In white robes, her silhouette is described as ravishing, while her smile is compared to flowers blooming across a field. Her refined table manners and effortless composure suggest an upbringing far removed from the ordinary academy persona she adopts. (Chapters 762, 830, and 1019)

Her first impression is serenity bordering on detachment. She speaks calmly, rarely reveals fear, and appears able to watch the world without becoming involved in it. That reserve is partly cultivation and partly defense: the conceptual freedom she pursues asks her to rise above desire, while the expectations attached to her birth have taught her that vulnerability creates risks for herself and others. She can consequently seem aloof or withholding even when her actions are protective. Her impossible student test, refusal to disclose her origins, and abrupt departures all preserve distance, but none should be mistaken for indifference. (Chapters 762, 1019, 1037, 1577, and 2264)

Zhang Xuan brings out a warmer and less controlled personality. Luo Ruoxin laughs at his brazenness, becomes embarrassed by physical affection, worries openly for his survival, and can be hurt or angry when she believes their promises have been discarded. She is also decisive: she enters dangerous domains against escorts' wishes, defends him from a Sage Clan, gives him a treasured pendant, and accepts the loss of her own cultivation to save the Firmament. Her central tension is not love against duty in a simple sense, but a desire for freedom against two attachments she considers non-negotiable—her father and Zhang Xuan. The text treats those bonds as limitations on transcendence, yet they are also the source of her most humane choices. (Chapters 1013–1019, 1576–1577, 1698, 2232–2234, and 2264)

Abilities and cultivation

Luo Ruoxin's six-star master-teacher rank at Hongyuan is a cover and should not be read as the limit of either her cultivation or knowledge. Her true standing is that of a God Monarch. Descending through increasingly restrictive worlds suppresses what she can safely display, and regaining the Great Codex releases enough power that the Master Teacher Continent itself begins forcing her out.

God Monarch cultivation and the Heavens' Nature

As God Monarch Lingxi, Luo Ruoxin rules the Sky of Freedom and oversees the Heavens' Nature. Oversight is not ownership: she later explains that the fragment does not belong to her and that she controls it only while trying to stabilize the Firmament and restore her father. Years of that governance give her an exceptionally deep understanding of the heavens, which is why Kong shi considers her accumulated power suitable for completing Zhang Xuan's command of the fragmented system. She also organizes the seal over the great fissure that destabilized the Firmament, although the formation is a stopgap rather than a permanent repair. (Chapters 2216, 2240, and 2264)

Even under lower-world restrictions, she can suppress Skyleaf King, repel Ancient Sage attacks, and tame the Great Codex. At full strength she fights Kong shi on near-equal terms and joins the combined God Monarch assault on Vicious. These feats do not make her unlimited: she cannot defeat Vicious even with the other Monarchs, her lower-world descent causes severe injury, and the conceptual contradiction within her path prevents her from transcending the God Monarch realm. Her latest explicit cultivation is God King after she transfers her power to Zhang Xuan; the loss is described as recoverable because her experience remains, but the corpus does not show that recovery before the ending. (Chapters 1086, 1771–1775, 2232–2234, and 2264)

Spatial passage and large-scale sealing

Luo Ruoxin possesses sophisticated knowledge of space long before her true realm is disclosed. She distinguishes spatial manipulation from formations, navigates folded regions, and recognizes principles beyond those available to ordinary master teachers on the Master Teacher Continent. At God Monarch level she can tear open passages within the Firmament and move directly between its Skies. She also understands and helps administer the formation sealing the Firmament's great fissure, a feat of world-scale governance rather than ordinary formation mastery. (Chapters 837–839, 1038, 1609, 2240, and 2264)

Crossing between worlds is much less straightforward. Even a God Monarch cannot simply ignore the barrier separating the Firmament, Azure, and Master Teacher Continent. Luo Ruoxin needs the Deathless Monarch's Seal of Supreme Monarch and rituals performed from below, and the passage wounds her badly enough that her blood becomes a rare source of power in the Azure. This is a significant operational limit: her spatial skill makes her an exceptional traveler within a world, but cross-world descent still depends on authority, coordination, and willingness to endure severe consequences. (Chapters 2041–2044, 2103, and 2217)

Swordsmanship and combat judgment

Luo Ruoxin's mature combat style centers on the sword. Her technique during the War of the Heavens is graceful, free, and difficult to constrain, yet it simultaneously carries an intention to protect. It resembles the swordsmanship of the Sword Hut and is formidable enough to contest Kong shi's Heavens' Order, though the corpus does not establish a named technique or confirm a formal Sword Hut inheritance. Against Vicious, she again uses a sword with a free, relentless momentum while coordinating her attacks with Zhang Xuan. (Chapters 2232–2234 and 2264)

Her greatest combat weakness is conceptual rather than technical. The freedom she cultivates requires transcendence of nature and desire, but her duty to her father and love for Zhang Xuan make that ideal impossible for her to complete. During the duel with Kong shi, both opponents hold back rather than fully sacrifice the other for advancement. This hesitation costs her the opportunity to break beyond the God Monarch realm, but it is also an ethical choice: her strength is repeatedly directed toward shielding companions and preserving the Firmament rather than proving dominance at any price. (Chapters 1771–1772, 2232–2234, and 2264)

Teaching, discernment, and divine authority

Although Luo Ruoxin does not build a body of students, her Hongyuan lecture shows genuine mastery of cultivation theory. She explains the harmony of soul and body, recognizes the Celestial Master Teacher state, distinguishes authentic traces of Kong shi from imitation, and possesses deep knowledge of spatial, historical, and artifact-related principles. Her refusal to accept students is therefore deliberate rather than evidence that her master-teacher cover lacks substance. Her knowledge is broad enough to guide searches for the Saint Ascension Platform, Prime Amulet, and Great Codex, but she still relies on Zhang Xuan when his Eye of Insight and unusual problem-solving can expose paths unavailable to her. (Chapters 762, 830–839, 1038, and 1582–1590)

The “Spirit God” authority she exercises is borrowed and procedural. By carrying the Deathless Monarch's Seal of Supreme Monarch, she can represent the Sky of Spirit Origin, issue an edict to its displaced people, and activate the ritual network needed for descent. She returns the seal after using it. This authority explains why the Otherworldly Demons recognize her silhouette and command, but it does not grant them kinship with her or replace her actual office as God Monarch of the Sky of Freedom. (Chapters 1774–1775 and 2217)

Power progression

Relationships

• Zhang Xuan: Luo Ruoxin first values his courage and unusual abilities, then falls in love with the candor that breaks through her emotional detachment. Their relationship survives her concealment, his mistaken identification of Luo Qiqi, her forced departure, and the possibility that the War of the Heavens will make them enemies. She protects him through direct intervention, the Great Codex, and her pendant, while he ultimately refuses to accept that duty or fate requires either of them to die. They reunite in the Sky of Freedom after the Firmament is restored. (Chapters 762–839, 1,013–1,019, 1,576–1,577, 1,771–1,775, 2,232–2,267)
• Kong shi: Kong shi controls the Heavens' Order and is Luo Ruoxin's appointed opponent in the War of the Heavens. Their moonlit duel is serious but restrained; she appears to kill him, while he uses the outcome to free himself from the heavens and revive. They later cooperate, transferring their power and understanding to Zhang Xuan so that the Firmament can survive Vicious. (Chapters 2,216, 2,228–2,240, 2,264)
• Wu Chen: Wu Chen is Luo Ruoxin's loyal subordinate during her lower-world mission and helps her navigate the Temple of Confucius and tame the Great Codex. His true identity as Sovereign Chen Yong explains his enormous strength and ties to the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe, but his service to her does not make her a member of that tribe. (Chapters 1,582–1,590, 1,659–1,774)
• Luo Qiqi: Luo Qiqi is the actual Luo Clan little princess whom Zhang Xuan mistakes for Luo Ruoxin. The two women are not relatives. Luo Ruoxin is hurt by the apparent engagement but recognizes that the shared surname created a genuine misunderstanding; her arrival ends that ceremony and leaves Luo Qiqi to bear its public and personal consequences. At Zhang Xuan and Nie Lingxi's later wedding, Lingxi personally invites Qiqi forward and accepts her as a second bride, replacing the old triangle's resentment with a shared resolution. (Chapters 1,576–1,577 and 2,267)
• Little Chick: The Deathless Monarch was once the tamed beast of Luo Ruoxin's father. Luo Ruoxin borrows his Seal of Supreme Monarch to represent the Spirit God during her descent, and his Deathlessness is carried in the blood sealed inside the pendant she gives Zhang Xuan. (Chapters 1,698, 2,216, 2,264)
• Nie Yun: Luo Ruoxin's father is the creator of the Firmament and the person she believes was incapacitated when the heavens fragmented. Her descent, study of the Great Codex, and participation in the War are driven by the desire to awaken him. The ending reveals to Zhang Xuan—but not yet directly to Luo Ruoxin—that Nie Yun allowed her to maintain this false belief as part of his trial. (Chapters 2,216, 2,240, 2,264)
• Luo Qingcheng: Luo Ruoxin's mother. Her surname supplies the “Luo” in Lingxi's lower-world persona, explaining why Luo Ruoxin could truthfully deny belonging to the Luo Clan while still choosing that name. (Chapter 2,267)

Items

• Luo Ruoxin's Pendant: A crimson pendant inherited from her father and containing his blood. Luo Ruoxin gives it to Zhang Xuan before the Temple of Confucius; it repeatedly restores his composure and ultimately provides the Deathlessness that allows him to resurrect and sever the Library from his soul.
• Great Codex of Spring and Autumn: The object Luo Ruoxin descends to recover and study as preparation for the War of the Heavens. She tames it in the Temple of Confucius, then places it into Zhang Xuan's Library of Heaven's Path, upgrading the Library rather than retaining the Codex for herself.
• Prime Amulet: The principal key connected to the Prime Hall. Luo Ruoxin uses the Qiu Wu Palace book to help locate it and briefly examines it before the Temple of Confucius opens, but leaves it in Zhang Xuan's custody rather than claiming it.