Xiao Ruyu

Xiao Ruyu is a Xiao Family cultivator whose friendship with Li Xuanfeng tests his clan’s cautious politics and whose later service centers on the welfare and connections of Lixia Prefecture.

Biography

A Friendship Formed on Guli Road

Ruyu first meets Li Xuanfeng while receiving tribute visitors at Cloud Crowned Peak. As the young family head, he explains the Xiao family’s ritual sparring custom and tests Xuanfeng, only to discover that the visitor’s bow makes a direct exchange dangerous. The two become friends, and Ruyu later approaches Xuanfeng’s family with the same frankness and respect. (Chapters 124, 131 and 317)

Protest and Retaliation at Lixia

When Golden Tang Gate begins slaughtering Lixia’s mortals, Ruyu urges his uncle Xiao Yongling to intervene; Yongling refuses because he fears the Azure Pond Sect is baiting the Xiao Family into a destructive trap. Ruyu watches the massacre in anguish, then follows Xuanfeng east and helps plan a retaliatory strike. He offers two Profound Essence Escape Talismans, of which Xuanfeng accepts one; after Xuanfeng kills the target, each man uses his own talisman to escape. Xuanfeng returns alone, leaving Ruyu confused. (Chapters 161–164)

Civic Work and a Fall from Prominence

As a family leader, Ruyu later proposes moving people into depopulated Lixia and restoring Guli Road with relay stations so families and commoners can travel and trade more safely. During the devil plague, however, the Cloud Crowned Peak formation fails. At Chen Taojing’s urging, Ruyu escapes while Taojing stays behind to hold off the attackers. Decades later, Ruyu has been sidelined after an unspecified mistake and is again serving as a market steward; he receives Li Ximing and carefully manages access to his clan uncle. (Chapters 171–172, 317, 382 and 1050–1051)

Appearance and personality

Ruyu is handsome as a youth and later appears as a middle-aged man with a practiced, worldly manner. He is troubled by the massacre of commoners, values friendship enough to take personal risks, and grows more cautious after years of managing the family and its markets. (Chapters 124, 163, 382 and 1050)

Abilities and cultivation

Ruyu reaches the eighth heavenly layer of Qi Cultivation by Chapter 317. He uses the Xiao Family’s techniques, protective true essence and escape talismans, and can manage the Cloud Crowned Peak market and coordinate regional travel plans. The Capital Guard Dao lineage is associated with his clan uncle, Xiao Yongling. (Chapters 131, 163, 172, 317 and 1050)

Relationships

• Li Xuanfeng: A friend whose friendship with Ruyu survives their families’ political differences and leads to their joint retaliation at Lixia. (Chapters 124 and 161–164)
• Xiao Yongling: His clan uncle and senior, whose choice to prioritize the family’s survival over Lixia’s mortals causes Ruyu deep distress. (Chapter 161)
• Xiao Chuting: The family ancestor whose orders Ruyu follows when receiving Li Ximing decades later. (Chapters 1050–1051)
• Chen Taojing: A senior clansman who stays to defend Cloud Crowned Peak and urges Ruyu to escape. (Chapter 382)

Items

Ruyu produces two Profound Essence Escape Talismans before the retaliation. Xuanfeng accepts one, and each man later activates his own to escape. (Chapter 163)