明孝宗
In the Ming dynasty, Jiutian Xuannü officially became a celestial protectress and was venerated as a tutelary goddess of the state. In 1493, Empress Zhang (1470–1541), who was the wife of the Hongzhi Emperor, was ordained and her ordination was certified in a scroll entitled "The Ordination of Empress Zhang", which contains numerous images of deities (but not Jiutian Xuannü) and an inscription composed by the Daoist master Zhang Xuanqing (, d. 1509) of the Zhengyi school. This inscription ranks Jiutian Xuannü above all other celestial warriors by placing her ahead of the divine categories Generals, Marshals, Heavenly Soldiers, the Six Ding Jade Maidens, and the Six Jia Generals. Furthermore, it granted her the expanded official title "Jiutian Zhanxie Huzheng Xuannü" (, translated "Dark Lady of the Nine Heavens who Slays Evil and Protects Righteousness"). The "Lingbao Liuding Mifa" associates the phrase "slaying evil and protecting righteousness" () with the goddess and emphasizes that "in order to slay evil and return to righteousness, one first needs to know how to become invisible" ().