Li Wushao

Li Wushao is a black-scaled Hooked Serpent who becomes a long-serving guardian of the Li Family after Li Yuanjiao captures and life-matches him. Initially dependent on his captor for survival, he gradually gains resources, refined cultivation, and relationships unavailable to him in the predatory hierarchy of the Eastern Sea. His practical attachment to the clan develops into genuine grief for its dead and enduring service to several generations. (Chapters 455, 468, 618, 831–832, 1498)

Biography

The captured Hooked Serpent

The serpent comes from the Eastern Sea, where low bloodline makes an intelligent demon vulnerable to the demands and appetites of greater creatures. After being driven away by a dragon-palace creature, he cultivates at Lake Xian and occupies spirit water sought by Kong Tingyun. Already a Foundation demon, he resists Kong and Yuanjiao with green light, venomous tail hooks, and a pearl emitting freezing mist. Their complementary methods defeat him: Kong restrains the hooks with a borrowed artifact and blocks his light, while Yuanjiao draws away the pearl’s cold qi and takes it. With his foundation sealed and natural weapons confiscated, the serpent is brought to the Li riverside and held in chains. (Chapters 455–456, 467)

Captivity gives Yuanjiao leverage beyond ordinary imprisonment. The serpent’s Morning Cold Rain foundation belongs to Water Mansion, and he fears being sold to another cultivator who could consume it. He eagerly supplies what he knows of the Five Waters and the distribution of Fruition Attainments overseas, while admitting gaps in his knowledge. When his information is exhausted, he pleads that he sought spirit water rather than victims and asks to be spared. Yuanjiao offers lifelong service under a borrowed method that will extract his spirituality. The serpent accepts the alternative to death, despite the warning that a failed ritual could severely injure him and that the household cannot afford further healing. (Chapters 467–468)

The Six Dams Life Matching Unique Technique succeeds, using a Supreme Yin Osmanthus Blossom filled with Moonlight as its central material. Part of the serpent’s spirituality enters Yuanjiao’s control, but the rich material also nourishes him; when Yuanjiao returns the Cold Jade Serpent Pearl, his demon-general aura is restored. He takes human form for the first time, a fierce black-clad youth whose resemblance to Yuanjiao reflects the spiritual bond. Yuanjiao names him Li Wushao and sends him to meet the household. This creates both a new identity and a dangerous dependency: his place among the Li offers safety, but his life is bound to another. He later tells Kong Tingyun, whose blades are made from his removed hooks, that the former Hooked Serpent is dead and that he is now Li Wushao of Qingdu. (Chapters 468, 481)

Useful service and recovered weapons

Wushao quickly demonstrates why the clan has invested in keeping him alive. He gathers lesser water demons, surveys spiritual resources near the eastern shore, and sends fish demons in search of suitable juvenile spirit fish. His knowledge of water and his Foundation strength make the lake an area the family can begin managing rather than merely inhabiting. He accompanies Yuanjiao on the prolonged pursuit of a large Eastern Sea fish for sacrifice, and joins the ambush against Fu Daimu and Zhe Ledai. In the latter fight his serpent body crushes Zhe Ledai’s lower half while another ally completes the killing. Afterward he anxiously asks about Yuanjiao’s injury, because the life bond makes his master’s survival a matter of his own safety. (Chapters 469, 471–476)

Service brings resources he could not easily obtain alone. Yuanjiao gives him Clear Cloud Elk Fruit, which begins the regrowth of the two tail hooks; by the time Xijun calls on him during the Xu Xiao crisis, both weapons are restored. He also becomes involved in mineral surveys and plans for underwater mining with An Zheyan. His integration is not entirely comfortable. Qinghong’s thunder frightens him because of its effectiveness against demons, and Kongheng’s recitation of Respected Cultivator’s Subduing Words gives him a painful headache. Yet he listens through his curses when the monk teaches composure and methods of resistance. Their familiarity begins an unusual trust between a foul-mouthed serpent and a patient Buddhist cultivator. (Chapters 478, 487, 490, 498, 537)

The Xu Xiao confrontation exposes the limits of his strength as well as its value. His Foundation body and recovered hooks help the juniors contain a dangerous devil cultivator, but Xu Xiao can evade an initial strike and counter him with black flames. When Guo Hongyao intervenes, Xijun has to protect Wushao’s place within the family through negotiation as well as force. Wushao’s rank does not supply the refined arts, artifacts, or security of a well-supported sect disciple. Continued service therefore means learning when to attack, when to rely on allies, and when an opponent’s techniques make raw demonic power insufficient. He remains a trusted guardian while the elders’ absences increasingly put that judgment to use. (Chapters 537–543, 550–551)

Choosing to stay and guarding a new generation

After Yuanjiao dies, Xuanfeng explicitly tells Wushao that his former master freed his spirituality and that he may leave. The offer is made before an ancestor whose demon-killing presence terrifies him, but Wushao’s reasons for remaining extend beyond immediate fear. Years with the Li have been comfortable and secure, whereas returning to the Eastern Sea would again make him prey for the dragon clans. He declares his indebtedness to Yuanjiao and chooses continued service. Xijun takes responsibility for the arrangement, subsequently using the Six Dams method and entrusting Wushao’s spirituality to Yuexiang. Freedom from the former bond thus becomes a renewed relationship with the household rather than a return to solitary life. (Chapters 618, 621)

The rematching also changes his cultivation. It depends on the quality of the spirit material, and Wushao expects to risk his life in the attempt. Xijun instead uses a material so valuable that Wushao thinks even three of him could not compensate for it. The safe success and exceptional nourishment leave him grateful, with demonic qi refined into a purity Kongheng recognizes as resembling orthodox Immortal Dao. Wushao’s continued dependence is therefore accompanied by a benefit the clan did not have to provide so generously. The new quality belongs to his Morning Cold Rain foundation, not to a transformation into a different named species. (Chapter 678)

His duties expand with the next generation. He supports Ximing’s efforts to deter the Yu household, attends Yuexiang, and is later assigned to guard Zhouwei when Xizhi takes his sister away. By then he is expressly introduced as a middle-stage Foundation cultivator. Lesser lake demons administer tasks under him, allowing him to appear only as needed rather than carry out every daily inspection himself. The family even commissions serpent-shaped stone beasts for the entrance. What began as the utility of a captive becomes an acknowledged protective role within the household, although his authority remains tied to its assignments and its stronger cultivators. (Chapters 638–639, 673, 678–682, 701–702)

The northern war and Yuexiang’s remains

The northern deployment brings Wushao against enemies whose training can neutralize his natural advantages. Yu Xin’s golden seals force him into a difficult struggle until Qinghong and Kongheng intervene. He responds by helping the other sect cultivators, then contributes icy wind from his pearl during pursuit; it interferes with the enemy’s spiritual sense without doing serious bodily damage. Away from combat he visits Lingu Lanying’s white Hooked Serpent, Gu’er. The failed connection brings an uncomfortable explanation to Qinghong: serpent attraction depends on scent and bloodline, and intelligent wishes do not necessarily overcome physical revulsion or the call of a higher-ranked serpent. For Wushao, sentience makes the constraints of his body more painful rather than removing them. (Chapters 753–755, 787, 798)

When catastrophic fighting engulfs Chengshui Tomb, he survives by reverting to serpent form, shrinking, and entering the underground waters. Months later he returns to the abandoned ruins of Mount Yan Pass to search for those he knew. A devil cultivator challenges him, and Wushao invokes Kongheng’s reputation and recites the words the monk taught him to bluff his way past the interrogation. Among the debris he finds Chen Mufeng’s remains and gathers them for burial, then searches anxiously for other acquaintances. The people he once regarded as ordinary Qi cultivators have become irreplaceable faces; his curses diminish as the scale of the loss becomes clear. His escape preserves his life, but cannot shield him from the consequences of the battle. (Chapters 830–831)

Yuexiang’s death is especially devastating because the life bond had given him a false assurance. If her possession of his spirituality had ended through death, he expected to die instantly; remaining unharmed, he never considered that she might have transferred it beforehand. Her broken sword and a charm awaiting someone’s return lead him to charred bones and the cracked Glazed Dusk bead. He infers the earlier transfer without knowing its recipient, pieces the bead together, and stores it with her remains. Even the ash adhering to his hand is carefully returned to the jade box. He eventually carries the dead home with Minggong. His grief reveals how far the clan’s companionship has carried him beyond the self-preserving calculations with which he first accepted service. (Chapters 831–832, 885)

Xizhi’s attendant and gradual refinement

Wushao later serves Xizhi in Azure Pond and Eastern Sea affairs, becoming a guardian of his household and disciples. By this time he has reached late Foundation, yet limited training still makes him weaker in combat than some middle-stage disciples of illustrious sects. Xizhi seeks pills and expert advice to improve his strength, only to find the visiting alchemists interested in using the serpent himself as furnace material. He clarifies that Wushao is to be nourished rather than consumed. Repeated Supreme Yin life matching has already changed the once-ordinary bloodline, and further resources improve the effects of Morning Cold Rain. Wushao demonstrates control of Inferior Water and suppression of spirit wind, while Xizhi promises to find suitable spell arts for him. (Chapters 891, 949–950)

The relationship also protects him when cultivation environments exceed his endurance. In the Abyss, clashing baleful qi and Lesser Yang light injure his body, although Xizhi’s talisman allows Xizhi himself to withstand them. Xizhi places the serpent in a safer cavern near a water vein, where he can recover and handle arriving messages. The talisman qi cannot simply heal Wushao in the same way it aids its bearer. Elsewhere his paired black strikes assist the fighting against Situ Mo, and his knowledge of hierarchy makes him a careful observer of sect news. Over time his original youthful appearance becomes a stern, wrinkled face as his mentality changes. These developments deepen his experience and power without eliminating vulnerability to unfamiliar forces. (Chapters 949, 962–964, 1091, 1097)

His visits home keep the sect household connected to the older Li relatives. Xuanxuan is moved by Wushao’s resemblance to Yuanjiao, and Wushao reassures him that Xizhi lives well; he jokes that the title Lord Li protects him within the sect, while strangers overseas might still throw him into a furnace. Guardianship can also require less dignified service: when Zhouluo hands him the baby Jiangchun, he is completely overwhelmed. By his visit to Jiutian Pavilion for a footwork technique, long-term resources and repeated nourishment have brought him to peak Foundation. Quan Yuduan privately judges that ordinary sect disciples may no longer be his match, though Wushao’s rare participation in combat leaves the full extent of his improved strength uncertain. His principal role remains the quiet protection of Xizhi’s juniors. (Chapters 1216–1219, 1380, 1498)

Suiguan’s return and the grotto expedition

At Jiutian Pavilion, Wushao hears consequential news of Pristine Gui Pool and the return of the Grand Daoist Master. Quan Yuduan and the other disciples make information available to him, along with intelligence from the Si connections, and he promptly carries it home. His standing as the attendant of respected Li cultivators gives him immediate access to Zhouwei and Ximing. He brings a marketplace portrait that could help identify the subject of the rumors, turning his modest role as messenger into the occasion for direct contact with a power far above his own. (Chapters 1498, 1519)

Suiguan is already beside him when he takes the painting. Wushao waits respectfully as if receiving ordinary household instructions and then pours tea naturally for the three cultivators. Ximing watches for bewitchment but sees clear eyes and no outward irregularity; he does not establish why Wushao behaves this way or prove a general immunity to divine abilities. Suiguan remarks on the rarity of a Water Mansion Hooked Serpent with Morning Cold Rain and recognizes his status as a trusted demonic creature. Wushao provides the information and service that make the meeting possible, while the core cultivators handle the larger implications of the returning master’s interest. (Chapters 1520–1521)

In the later grotto expedition, Wushao once again survives by caution and cunning rather than noble background. He is injured, but lasts until Ximing draws him out alongside Chen Yang. The encounter does not turn survival into an unqualified victory: his latest condition includes the injuries sustained inside, and his established peak Foundation rank remains distinct from any higher realm. The serpent who began as a chained captive is now one of the family’s durable attendants, able to carry sensitive news and endure dangerous assignments while continuing to rely on protection from the people he serves. (Chapter 1565)

Appearance and personality

Wushao’s true form is a giant black-scaled serpent with a forked tail bearing two venomous hooks. His first human manifestation is a narrow-eyed youth in practical black clothing, whose fierce features resemble Yuanjiao because of the life bond. He can emerge from gray wind or shadow with the hooks appearing as dark appendages beneath him. As his mentality changes, the youthful face becomes older, stern, and lined with wrinkles. (Chapters 455, 467–468, 537, 678, 949)

Coarse curses and threatening expressions coexist with fear of stronger beings and an acute instinct for survival. He values life under the Li because respect and companionship replace the constant danger of being treated as materials by superior bloodlines. His grief over Yuexiang and the meticulous preservation of the dead reveal attachments his usual language conceals. He remains proud of the standing attached to his Li identity without imagining it gives protection from strangers everywhere, and a crying infant can unsettle him more visibly than many ordinary duties. (Chapters 618, 798, 831–832, 1218, 1380)

Abilities and cultivation

Water Mansion and Morning Cold Rain

Wushao forms his Foundation before taking human shape and identifies its Water Mansion foundation as Morning Cold Rain. Initially his limited techniques leave him reliant on cold qi and bodily weapons. He can swim and operate underwater, assume human or serpent form, travel with gray wind, and shrink sufficiently to escape through subterranean water. The last ability saves him when the fighting at Chengshui Tomb makes remaining aboveground untenable. These are practical applications of a water demon’s cultivation, rather than a guarantee of safety in any water-aligned environment. (Chapters 455–456, 467–468, 678, 830)

Repeated life matching and high-quality nourishment refine his demonic qi into a purer, more orthodox quality. At late Foundation he demonstrates manipulation of Inferior Water and suppression of spirit wind, with Xizhi intending to improve his training through further spell arts. By peak Foundation his cultivation and bloodline have deepened enough for Quan Yuduan to regard him as potentially stronger than ordinary sect disciples. That assessment revises the earlier weakness attributed to him, but remains an appraisal rather than a complete demonstration of every combat limit. His last established formal rank is peak Foundation. (Chapters 678, 949, 1498)

Important counters remain. Qinghong’s demon-suppressing thunder frightens him, Yu Xin’s golden techniques press him hard, and the Abyss exposes him to clashing baleful qi and Lesser Yang light that his body cannot neutralize as Xizhi’s talisman does. Endurance helps him bear pain but does not supply the missing protection or heal the injury. He must leave the dangerous radiance and recover in a safer place. (Chapters 490, 753–754, 962–964)

Twin venomous hooks

The two hooks are natural weapons at the ends of his forked tail. They strike and sweep from different directions, with dark appendages accompanying his human form and paired black swordlike blows appearing in combat. Kong Tingyun needs a borrowed artifact to immobilize them during his capture, after which they are removed and made into her curved blades. Without a panacea or suitable spirit water, Wushao expects decades of regrowth. Clear Cloud Elk Fruit accelerates the process: shadows of the returning weapons appear beneath his robe, and they are fully restored by the time Xijun summons him against Xu Xiao. (Chapters 455, 468, 481, 498, 537, 1091)

The restored hooks make him a more effective guardian but do not ensure that a lower-ranked enemy is helpless. Xu Xiao evades his first attack and uses black flames that threaten the demonic body; Wushao must maneuver around the counter rather than rely on venom alone. His force also comes from the rest of his serpent form: he crushes Zhe Ledai’s lower body during the joint ambush before Zhu Xian completes the killing. Both incidents show the importance of allied attacks and the difference between substantial natural power and mastery over an opponent’s techniques. (Chapters 475, 540–542)

Cold Jade Serpent Pearl

His innate pearl emits freezing white mist and cold qi. During the initial battle Yuanjiao uses Flowing Qi Swallowing Spirit to draw that qi away, seize the pearl, and deprive the serpent of its defense. After the successful life-matching ritual, returning the pearl to his mouth restores his demon-general presence. Its removal and restoration therefore affect his available strength, while its cold emissions are a specific power that another technique can counter. (Chapters 455, 468)

Wushao later spits out a bead filled with icy snow to generate a chilling wind during the pursuit of Yu Xin. It does not meaningfully damage the monk’s body, but clouds his spiritual sense and interferes with movement while Qinghong’s thunder supplies the more dangerous attacks. The family’s later comparison of his cold-emitting core with a true Foundation artifact also shows that an innate demon core is not automatically equivalent to a cultivated weapon of the same nominal realm. The pearl remains an innate source of cold attacks, not evidence that Wushao has attained a higher realm. (Chapters 755, 780)

Life matching and bloodline refinement

The Six Dams Life Matching Unique Technique is applied by human cultivators to Wushao, rather than independently cast by him. It extracts part of his spirituality into another’s control and creates a life-linked dependence. While bound to Yuanjiao, he can use the connection to find his master; he also fears that Yuanjiao’s death will kill him. Transfer or release of the spirituality can avert that outcome. Yuanjiao frees him before his death, Xijun later rematches him and entrusts the connection to Yuexiang, and Wushao infers a further transfer when he discovers her dead while remaining alive himself. He does not identify the last recipient. (Chapters 468, 476, 618, 621, 832)

The same process can nourish him when its materials are sufficiently rich. The first ritual uses a Supreme Yin Osmanthus Blossom filled with Moonlight; Xijun’s later rematching employs a costly material to secure success and spare Wushao injury. Repeated transformations of nourishment through the method bring profound benefits associated with Azure Manifestation, refining his bloodline and foundation over many years under Xizhi. The resulting value even makes visiting alchemists covet him as pill material. The benefit does not erase the ritual’s coercive dependency or the risk of severe injury if it fails. (Chapters 468, 678, 949, 1498)

Lake command and practical survival

Foundation strength and Eastern Sea experience allow Wushao to command weaker water demons, scout spiritual resources, coordinate underwater mining, and support the protection of the household. These tasks depend on subordinates and human collaborators such as An Zheyan, not on a power to control every creature in the lake. His knowledge of predatory aquatic hierarchies also informs his choice to remain with the Li when offered departure. (Chapters 469, 478, 618, 673)

He learns useful methods without becoming a Buddhist cultivator. Kongheng teaches him composure and resistance while reciting Respected Cultivator’s Subduing Words; Wushao memorizes the wording and later uses it with the monk’s reputation to frighten away a suspicious devil cultivator. Survival can require retreat, bluff, and quiet attention to messages rather than direct confrontation. Those habits make him valuable as Xizhi’s attendant and as the messenger who brings news of Suiguan home, while the grotto shows that caution can preserve his life without preventing injury. (Chapters 487, 830–831, 962, 1519, 1565)

Power progression

Relationships

• Li Yuanjiao: Captor, first life-bound master, and the person who names him. Yuanjiao supplies resources and a place in the household, then releases his spirituality before dying. (Chapters 455, 468, 476, 618)
• Li Xijun: Relies on him against Xu Xiao and conducts the costly rematching that safely strengthens him. Their duties also include protecting the younger family members. (Chapters 537–542, 621, 678)
• Li Yuexiang: A ward to whom his spirituality is entrusted. His later discovery and preservation of her remains expose a deep attachment beyond the formal bond. (Chapters 621, 673, 831–832)
• Li Xizhi: Long-term master whose resources refine Wushao’s cultivation and bloodline. He protects the serpent from predatory alchemist assumptions and cares for him in the dangerous Abyss. (Chapters 949–950, 962–964, 1498)
• Li Zhouwei and Li Ximing: He guards Zhouwei as a young heir, later brings both news of Suiguan, and is rescued from the grotto by Ximing. (Chapters 673, 678, 1519–1520, 1565)
• Li Qinghong: A family elder whose thunder frightens him but whose aid saves him in northern fighting. She also listens to his explanation of the unhappy constraints imposed by serpent instinct and bloodline. (Chapters 490, 753–755, 798)
• Kongheng: Teaches him mental resistance, aids him against Yu Xin, and provides the reputation Wushao invokes during his return to the ruins. Their familiar exchanges combine patient instruction with Wushao’s curses. (Chapters 487, 754, 831)
• Kong Tingyun: Participates in his capture and takes his hooks for her artifacts. Their later encounter forces her to recognize his new identity as a Li guardian. (Chapters 455, 468, 481)
• Gu’er: Lingu Lanying’s white Hooked Serpent, distinct from Wushao. His visits lead to a frustrated connection constrained by scent and bloodline rather than a human marriage. (Chapters 787, 798)

Items

The Cold Jade Serpent Pearl is his innate cold-emitting core, taken during capture and returned after life matching. His original tail hooks pass to Kong Tingyun as curved blades; the weapons he later uses are regrown natural hooks. The Clear Cloud Elk Fruit helps that regeneration. (Chapters 455, 468, 481, 498, 537)

Supreme Yin Osmanthus Blossom and other costly life-matching materials nourish his body and refine his foundation through rituals performed by the Li cultivators. These resources are applied to a sentient guardian, whose abilities and obligations develop with the relationship. In the northern ruins he also takes custody of Yuexiang’s cracked Glazed Dusk bead and gathers her remains for return to the family. (Chapters 468, 678, 832, 1498)