Meng Zhuoyun

Meng Zhuoyun was a widowed cultivator who sought an alchemical livelihood under the Li family's protection. Her alchemical study with Li Ximing became an intimate relationship, but her determination to avenge her husband and her dissatisfaction with Ximing's dependence on his clan eventually led her to leave. (Chapters 478, 489, 493, 515, 524)

Biography

Seeking security at Moongaze Lake

Meng Zhuoyun arrived with her elderly father, Meng Taizhi, carrying Xiao Yuansi's recommendation. She was still an Embryonic Breathing cultivator, and her father's declining lifespan made securing her future urgent. He offered his artifact-crafting expertise in exchange for access to an alchemy inheritance suited to her ability to conjure core flame. The Li family granted them a place to gather spiritual qi, but Li Yuanping's inability to verify their overseas background prevented the permanent acceptance her father wanted. What looked like a useful exchange of skills therefore remained a precarious refuge. (Chapters 470, 477–478)

Behind her composed manner, Zhuoyun remained angry over the loss of her husband and the wandering that followed. Her father regretted their conflict with Tu Longjian; she refused to share his resignation and declared that she would eventually kill him. She also struggled to understand the Li family's refusal to sacrifice unrelated mortals to save its own dying kin, regarding that restraint as an impractical attachment to old morals. Her search for protection thus brought her into a household whose values she did not fully share, while revenge continued to compete with the safer future her father was trying to arrange. (Chapter 478)

Alchemy, intimacy and departure

With the family head's approval, Zhuoyun sought instruction from Li Ximing. He asked to examine her core flame and began sharing alchemical knowledge; she recognized his susceptibility to beauty and hoped that drawing closer to him would improve her position within the clan. Their relationship became sexual and lasted more than a year. When Meng Taizhi died, the hairpin he had made for her became a reminder of that loss, and her grief surfaced during an otherwise familiar encounter with Ximing. The arrangement had become more personal than its original exchange of skills, but it still offered no secure resolution of her future. (Chapters 489, 493)

Zhuoyun refined pills for the family and painted portraits of herself with Ximing, yet would not abandon revenge for a life at his side. Ximing urged her to stay peacefully and treated her husband's death as something she should put behind her. When she finally asked whether he would keep her, his evasive answer prompted her to confront him about his reliance on ancestral advantages and his lack of independent courage. She emptied out the pills, manuals, paintings and clothing she had kept, then left his courtyard. Li Xijun stopped her to inspect her belongings and require secrecy oaths, including further assurances after mentioning her painting skill; he then apologized for Ximing's unfairness and paid her for years of alchemical work. She accepted the compensation and flew away, ending their relationship on her own terms. (Chapters 515, 520, 524)

Appearance and personality

Zhuoyun has delicate features, fair skin and long black hair. She wears green or white clothing and retains ornaments associated with her father. Her courtesy conceals practical ambition and stubborn resentment: she can seek advantage through intimacy while still grieving, and ultimately refuses the security Ximing offers on terms she finds unacceptable. (Chapters 478, 489, 493, 524)

Abilities and cultivation

Core flame and alchemy

Zhuoyun's ability to conjure core flame made alchemy a possible livelihood before she received formal guidance. Her father could teach artifact work but lacked the alchemical knowledge she needed, so he sought the Li family's inheritance for her. Ximing examined her flame and taught her alchemical secrets. By their later years together she was performing routine pill work for the clan, including assignments to refine Tranquility, Qi Nourishment and Mind Calming pills; Xijun's compensation on her departure recognized the many pills she had produced. The flame's particular name and operating properties are unknown. (Chapters 477, 489, 515, 524)

She was in the Embryonic Breathing Realm when she arrived and was approaching Qi Cultivation when she began studying with Ximing. Her subsequent realm advancement is unknown. Her alchemical work provided an independent skill, but learning within the Li household also created obligations of secrecy that followed her departure. (Chapters 470, 489, 524)

Painting and spellcraft

Zhuoyun paints portraits, including a domestic image of herself standing beside Ximing. Painting is a personal pursuit; no supernatural effect is associated with her brush. She can cast a Purification Spell and swear a Profound Scenery Spiritual Oath. Before permitting her to leave, Xijun required additional assurances after referring to her painting skill, making her artistic knowledge part of the family's concern about what she might reveal. (Chapters 515, 524)

Power progression

Relationships

• Meng Taizhi: Her father arranged refuge and alchemical instruction before his death and left her a crafted hairpin. (Chapters 470, 477–478, 493)
• Li Ximing: Her alchemy teacher and former lover. Their disagreement over revenge and her future ended in her departure. (Chapters 489, 493, 515, 524)
• Li Xijun: Enforced secrecy on her departure, acknowledged Ximing's unfair treatment and compensated her work. (Chapter 524)
• Tu Longjian: The target of her declared revenge following the disaster that drove her family into wandering. (Chapter 478)

Items

Zhuoyun carries a dark golden bronze mirror while mourning her husband and later wears a dark blue osmanthus hairpin crafted by her father before his death. When she leaves Ximing, she returns the pills, technique manuals, paintings and clothes in her storage pouch before accepting Xijun's compensation. (Chapters 478, 493, 524)