Zhaixingzi

Zhaixingzi is the Xingxiu Sect’s Great Senior Martial Brother, a powerful but precariously placed leader whose authority rests on a rule that makes martial strength the measure of rank. He enforces the sect’s secrecy and its succession-by-combat custom against Chuchenzi, then falls victim to that same custom when A’Zi defeats him. His rise and death expose a hierarchy that compels its members to cultivate strength while making obedience, kinship, and survival conditional on victory.

Identity and Authority

Zhaixingzi identifies himself when A’Zi’s question about her brother-in-law prompts him to introduce himself as a famous martial artist worth remembering. Xiao Feng recognizes his name and judges his lightness skill impressive, though not superior to Ba Tianshi or Yun Zhonghe. The exchange establishes both Zhaixingzi’s confidence in his reputation and the gap between the standing he claims and the broader martial world against which Xiao Feng measures him.

His title does not indicate seniority by age or time in the sect. Xiao Feng observes that the sect’s ranking is determined by martial arts: a young disciple can therefore command older members, and those lower in rank are not protected by the ordinary expectations of seniority. The position gives Zhaixingzi formidable authority, but also leaves it permanently open to challenge.

Discipline and the Sect’s Rules

Zhaixingzi’s treatment of the sect’s disciples shows how authority is performed. He gives five members Heart-Melting Bullets, explaining that the ordeal is meant to increase their endurance so they will not surrender at once to a powerful enemy and bring shame on the Xingxiu Sect. The five suffer through the pain, while the assembled disciples watch in fear. The episode presents discipline as both a lesson in endurance and a public demonstration of the leader’s power.

He then turns on Chuchenzi, accusing him of divulging a great secret of the sect and exposing its treasures to destruction. Chuchenzi falls to his knees, admits that he spoke recklessly, and begs for a chance to serve Zhaixingzi without complaint. Zhaixingzi says he would have preferred to spare a fellow disciple, but argues that leniency would make the Master’s orders impossible to enforce. He directs Chuchenzi to attack: under the sect’s rule, a disciple who defeats the enforcer can escape punishment, while defeat leaves the leader’s judgment in force.

The rule is more than a formal method of settling disputes. If a junior disciple wins, he immediately becomes Great Senior Martial Brother and may execute the former leader; if he loses, he can be killed or punished. The Master does not intervene. Members therefore have reason to improve for self-preservation, but also to hide their ability lest the leader grow suspicious or jealous. Chuchenzi’s formidable strength and heavy steel rod have already made him an object of Zhaixingzi’s jealousy, making the accusation of misconduct part of a struggle in which authority and personal advantage are difficult to separate.

The Challenge from A’Zi

When A’Zi proposes to leave alone through Yanmen Gate and retrieve the precious cauldron from Xiao Feng, she frames the mission as a way to atone for wrongdoing and asks to be spared future punishment. Zhaixingzi recognizes that releasing her would destroy his standing: she might disappear with the cauldron, leaving him unable to recover it or preserve his position. He insists that the treasure must be secured, but says the sect’s secret will remain safe so long as it is not disclosed. Instead of granting her request, he invokes the succession rule: if A’Zi can defeat him, she will become Great Senior Martial Sister and he will submit to her discipline.

The terms reveal that Zhaixingzi’s authority is inseparable from the contest he demands. He cannot simply release A’Zi without appearing to surrender his office, yet by making rank depend on victory he gives her a route to take it. The challenge turns the cauldron dispute into a direct contest over both control of the sect’s treasure and control of the sect itself.

The Green Flame and Defeat

During the fight, Zhaixingzi uses green flame as a weapon, directing the fire toward A’Zi with his palm force. The flame, made from saltpeter, sulfur, muscovite, and other substances, can be manipulated through internal energy. A’Zi resists it, holding it nearly motionless in the air as the green light plays across her face. Zhaixingzi intensifies the attack, splitting off two streams of fire to strike from either side.

Xiao Feng quietly intervenes. A slight movement of his left palm lifts the ends of A’Zi’s belt and redirects both streams toward Zhaixingzi. Zhaixingzi leaps, evading one stream, but cannot rise farther before the other burns his abdomen. The flames return to the bonfire. A’Zi has not overcome him by her own martial strength; Xiao Feng’s concealed assistance has created the opening that changes the contest’s outcome.

After the defeat, A’Zi asks what the sect’s rules require of a former Great Senior Martial Brother. Zhaixingzi, now powerless, begs her to spare him. She answers that she cannot break the rules and tells him to make his move. He gathers what remains of his internal energy and pushes it toward the bonfire, but the fire only trembles. A’Zi then sends green flame at him. Her own internal energy is mediocre, and the attack is slow and weak; Zhaixingzi nevertheless lacks the strength to resist, stand, or escape. The fire catches his hair and clothes, and he dies in its flames.

Death and Narrative Significance

The disciples immediately praise A’Zi, calling her a powerful senior sister who has removed a long-standing scourge and obeyed the Master’s decree. Their cheers show how quickly allegiance follows the victor under a system where rank and survival change hands through combat. Zhaixingzi had justified Chuchenzi’s punishment by appealing to the same rules; after his defeat, those rules supply the rationale for his own execution.

Xiao Feng leaves with disgust. He has witnessed many savage acts in the martial world, but finds A’Zi’s conduct especially disturbing because it comes from someone young, pretty, and seemingly innocent. Zhaixingzi’s death thus marks more than a reversal of office: the sect’s ceremonial language of discipline and service sits beside its relentless violence, while Xiao Feng’s brief intervention enables a victory whose consequences he cannot endorse. The Great Senior Martial Brother’s power proves real, but temporary; in the Xingxiu Sect, the rule that compels members to seek strength also ensures that no leader can safely possess it for long.