Yang Guo
Xiaolongnü accepts Yang Guo as her apprentice, and they live together in the Ancient Tomb for several years. During these years, Xiaolongnü imparts most of her martial arts and skills to Yang Guo. Yang Guo does not like to address her as "Master" ("sifu") and prefers to call her "Aunt" instead. They fall in love, but the prevailing norms of the "wulin" (martial artists' community) makes their romance taboo, equivalent to incest. They encounter several tribulations after leaving the tomb and numerous tests of their love. Although they eventually marry in Chongyang Palace, they again separate, this time for sixteen years, until their reunion at the end of the novel.