Xia Shiping

**Xia Shiping** (夏始平, *Xià Shǐpíng*), courtesy name **Xia Tian** (夏天, *Xià Tiān*) was a pupil of the famous Baoshen Saren making her the martial sister of Cangse Sanren, Yanling Daoren, and Xiao Xingchen. Ultimately, her entrance into the mortal world heralded her marriage to Lan Huiling and her death during a night hunt with her disciples Lan Xinya and Lan Hua. At the time of her death, she was the eldest-living child of Xia Long and Xia Qiuyue, and the sister-in-law of Lan Qiren, Qingheng-jun, and Madame Lan.

Given that her death happened many years before her nephews and niece were even born and Shiping was only 40 at the time, in the current time (around the Sunshot Campaign), she would be in her early 50's or 60's had she lived.

Before her death, she was the matriarch and leader of the Xia Han Clan. As of her death, Lan Huiling was the individual leading the clan as the current matriarch and reigned only until Chen's fifteen birthday, after which Chen assumed complete and absolute control of the clan and it's affairs.

## Appearance

Tall and elegant, Xia Shiping bore a strong resemblance to both of her parents as well as her own children who inherited a misnajergy of her facial features. There are many differences between all of them: first, that Shiping's eyes are colder and far more callous, and second that Shiping wore a blank facial expression constantly in contrast to her children and wife's expressive demeanors, making it appear as if Shiping was from the Lan Clan as opposed to her wife.

As the fifth young lady and princess of the Xia Clan, Shiping is depicted with the black and gold robes of her parents' clan and often wore a ice dragon hairpin in her hair.

After marrying into the Gusu Lan Clan, Shiping was always depicted with the white robes and hair ribbon of her wife's clan, being described as a near-peerless beauty amongst the members of the Xia Clan. In the few memories her children had of her, she was always solemn-faced and rarely showed emotion, showing her emotions through the usage of her eyes.

## Personality

> Firm and unyielding as the ash-trees or as passing as the clouds in the sky, Xia Shiping's demeanor was undeniably powerful. She was both harsh and powerful like incoming storms or wistful and gentle like the delicate flowers that danced in the summertime winds. Few in the cultivation world could deny her power and even fewer could deny her sense of duty towards the world at large.
>
> Profile introduction

Based on information provided throughout the Novel, Xia Shiping is subtly implied to be a older and far more mature foil of Lan Huiling's personality, given that Lan Qiren (one of her brothers-in-law) described Shiping as a "straight-laced person" and followed rules more strictly than her wife and children did. At one time, her complied knowledge of the Gusu Lan Clan led to her keeping a hand-written copy of the clan rules in her private journal, as well as in-depth explanations of the meaning behind all of the rules, this journal was passed down to Wei Wuxian by Xia Shiping's eldest daughter, Xia Chen. Her current personality came about due to the trauma that she experienced with the slaughter of almost her entire clan.

After she met Lan Huiling, she slowly changed due to her compassionate personality and would learn to open the most vunerable parts of herself up to her cherished people. Her journal entries penned before her death note her love for her children and her wife, to the point where she even sacrificed her life in order to save her wife from losing her life.

## History

Unlike many of the orphaned children raised by the famed Baoshen Sanren, Xia Shiping was born to the prominent Xia Clan though it was unfortunately greatly devestated by the fatal attack on the clan's place of residence at Mt. Taixuanjing. Despite having not agreed to the wishes of two of her former students to protect their children in the case of extreme damage being dealt to the clan, Baoshen rescued Shiping and a number of her siblings that still lived from the rubble and took them with her. While all of her siblings received schooling from Baoshen, Shiping was the pupil that shined the brightest amongst the ranks of her siblings. Eventually all of her siblings left the mountain of their teacher, leaving only Shiping who would remain. At the time that Cangse Sanren came to Baoshen's mountain, Shiping was 19 (the youngest amongst the pupils) but the eldest of the younger disciples. In Cangse's notes, Shiping was described as a "gentle and understanding older sister type" who cared very little for the general demeanor that they presented as famed students of Baoshen Sanren, having once dared Cangse to dye Xiao Xingcheng' robes a bright red, earning them the scolding of their teacher. Cangse's death deeply devestated Shiping who never recovered from her death.

At some unknown point in time, Shiping left the mountain of Baoshen Sanren and never returned, later falling in love with Lan Huiling who whisked Shiping back to Cloud Recesses with her. Though hesitant to accept Huiling's offer of engagment, she accepts after Huiling proceeds to show that her love for Shiping is genuine. As a sign of Shiping's love towards Huiling, she taught Huiling some of the Xia Clan's most sacred and exalted Onmyōdō techniques, while Huiling eagerly comissioned the sword Yingying Yun as a engagment present for her partner.