A-Zhao

* Manhua
* Donghua

**A-Zhao** (阿昭, *Ā-Zhāo*) is a guide and local of the Banyue region.

## Appearance

A-Zhao is a young man who is said to look in his twenties with a clean, respectable face. He wears plain clothes and usually carries a cold, stoic expression.

## Personality

A-Zhao is a calm and collective person. He usually remains expressionless even when praised or when stuck in danger. Despite his apathetic demeanor however, he's a considerate and courageous personality who has a habit of cautioning others and immediately acts to help out others.

## History

In reality, A-Zhao is an alter ego and clone of Pei Xiu. He uses the identity of A-Zhao to pose as a guide and lure traveling merchants and other people into the Banyue territory. He would sacrifice them to the remaining spirits inside the Sinner's Pit.

### Banyue Kingdom

As A-Zhao is guiding a new group of merchants through the desert, he meets Xie Lian and the others after they seek shelter from the sandstorm in the same cave as his group. After an elder of the merchants gets bitten by the Scorpion Snake later on, he rips off a piece of his clothing and prevents the venom from spreading. He confirms that he'll die within a few hours unless they find the Shanyue Fern in the Banyue Kingdom.

He accompanies Xie Lian and the others on their way to get the fern. On their journey, they get interrupted by two mysterious cultivators, who turn out to be Shi Qingxuan and Ming Yi, and have to hide. Nan Feng and A-Zhao hide together in a house, but Nan Feng causes it to collapse and distracts the two people. Nan Feng leaves enough space for A-Zhao to stay unharmed.

After Xie Lian helps him out, they soon arrive at the fortress to collect the Shanyue Fern. There they meet with some of the merchants who followed them. They find plenty of the fern, although they come to meet the Human Fertilizer who was used for fertilizing the Shanyue Fern, causing most of them to drop the plants.

### Sinner's Pit

Kemo arrives at the scene along with other Banyue soldiers. They forcefully bring A-Zhao and the rest up to the Sinner's Pit. As they stand on the top, A-Zhao charges at Kemo to bring him down into the pit with him, but he fails and falls down the pit alone. Xie Lian assumes he has died due to the gruesome sounds coming out of the pit, although he is suspicious of A-Zhao.

However, he survives and when Xie Lian, Ban Yue and the others are all down in the Sinner's Pit as well, A-Zhao manipulates the Scorpion Snakes and begins to fight Hua Cheng in the dark. Xie Lian quickly figures out that the person who is fighting is Pei Xiu and that A-Zhao is in fact a clone of his.

### Pei Xiu's Trial

A-Zhao's vessel was later shown by Pei Ming in the trial regarding Pei Xiu's punishment for what he's done in Banyue Kingdom. Pei Ming has Feng Xin and Mu Qing identify the wounds on the body as indeed those of Hua Cheng's scimitar to shift the blame onto him.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Novel, Book 1, Chapter 21: Shortened Distance; Adrift in Sandstorms II
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Novel, Book 1, Chapter 22: Shortened Distance; Adrift in Sandstorms III
3. ↑ Novel, Book 1, Chapter 23: Shortened Distance; Adrift in Sandstorms IV
4. ↑ Novel, Book 1, Chapter 24: Dallying HuaLian; Night-Fall in Sinner's Pit
5. ↑ Novel, Book 1, Chapter 29: Wind Master in White; Bellowing Sandstorms from Nothing
6. ↑ Novel, Book 1, Chapter 33: In the Great Martial Hall; Crown Prince Meets Crown Prince II