Rong Xuan

**Rong Xuan** (容炫, *Róng Xuàn*) was a disciple of Mount Changming, and a highly talented martial artist who instantly made a name for himself in the martial arts world.

## Appearance

Rong Xuan had an untraditional wild look to him. He wore blue and grey robes with red accents, including his scarf and arm bracers. When fighting the five brothers, he opted for a more basic white robes.

## Personality

Obsessed with learning martial arts and nothing else, Rong Xuan was an unrestrained man, going through all means to put his theory into practice; if all sects unified their sect teachings into one martial art, an unprecedented mastery can be created.

Rong Xuan had no issues sneaking into Sects and steal their secret scrolls, taking huge risks while laughing them off. He posses a careless and free attitude to all things, rarely taking anything seriously without considering the consequences.

## History

### Background

> This little brat might think it wasn't a big deal, and planned to come back after a few years when we were no longer angry... In the first several years, we bore the same thought.
>
> Ye Baiyi about Rong Xuan's department

On Mount Changming, Rong Xuan was born to Rong Changqing and Madam Rong.

Taking after his father's talents, Rong Xuan developed love for martial arts and strived to create a legendary form of arts, he was a disciple of Ye Baiyi, who was a close friend of his father. To make up for the loneliness on the top of Mount Changming, Ye Baiyi and Rong Changqing tried to satisfy his curiosity by teaching Rong Xuan all martial arts known to man to their full perfection, except for one: the Six Harmonies Cultivation Art.

Because of this, Rong Xuan argued with Ye Baiyi and Changqing, his passion for martial arts making him seek it out by any means. He eventually resorted to stealing the book of that art, and left Mount Changming for good to peruse his goals.

In his travels, he met and married the a senior disciple of the Immortal Physician Valley, Yue Fenger.

Rong Xuan developed a theory: If all sects can abandon the concept of having their unique own set of martial arts, disregard tradition and instead gave up their selfishness and combined their martial arts with other sects, they will create the highest form of martial arts. Rong Xuan believed strongly in this theory, and followed it unconditionally.

### The Five Brothers

> Following his madness, they wanted to change the traditions of the martial arts for thousands of years to create a completely new world.
>
> Wen Kexing about Rong Xuan

Rising in popularity, Rong Xuan made a name for himself in the martial arts world despite being so young, his swordsmanship incomparable and kung-fu legendary.

He crossed paths with the young Five Lakes Alliance brothers, and formed a brotherhood with the five brothers as they believed in his theory of combining all sect teachings together. They treated each other with sincerity and kindness, they were also accompanied with Yue Fenger's juniors, Wen Ruyu and Gu Miaomiao.

Giving in into his obsession further, Rong Xuan was unsatisfied with the scrolls they had, and started to steal scrolls from sects directly through trickery and violence, delving into their secret libraries and forbidden techniques.

After managing to get many scrolls from each school, Qin Huaizhang suggested building an armoury to keep all of the scrolls within. Long Que created the Liuli Armour as secondary key, which was divided into five and given to each brother, and then a primary key, which was entrusted to Yue Fenger.

### First Death

> Just a flesh wound, what are you afraid of? Come!
>
> Rong Xuan before succumbing to the poison

One day, Zhao Jing was seen taking scrolls from Mount Tai, the master at the time, referred to Gao Chong's father for investigation. This had put Zhao Jing in danger of being banished from his sect, or have his martial arts taken. This was about to spark an infighting

Rong Xuan came up with the idea of sparring the five brothers together at once in order to solve the matter. If Rong Xuan wins, then they will cease the matter at once. A battle ensued and while Gao Chong managed to injure Rong Xuan's shoulder, Rong Xuan came out victorious, however, he immediately collapsed afterwards. Everyone rushed to Rong Xuan's side while Gu Miaomiao took a swipe of the wound and announced that it is contained with the Three-Corpse Poisoning, a lethal poison with the intention to kill. Yue Fenger saw Rong Xuan's blood on Gao Chong's sword, and accused him of poisoning her husband, which he tried to fiercely deny but to no avail as everyone looked at him in disbelief.

Yue Fenger then cut all ties with the Five Brothers, as she held them responsible for her husband's state. The poison in Rong Xuan rendered him as good as a walking corpse, and he could not be healed by normal means.

### Revival and Descend into Madness

As the Three-Corpse Poisoning is lethal, Yue Fenger was desperate to save her husband, which led her to steal the Yin Yang Tome to bring Rong Xuan back to life. With the aid of Gu Miaomiao, Wen Ruyu and Long Que, she successfully transplanted the heart of a Ghost in Rong Xuan, which brought him back to life. While Rong Xuan lived, his qi was highly unstable and became in a state of frenzy, destroying everything around him and fleeing away as he qi deviated.

In Rong Xuan's state of madness, he accidentally killed Yue Fenger, and when he realised that, any thread of hope in saving Rong Xuan was completely lost, as his last shred of sanity was lost in grieve and remorse.

Once news spread out of Rong Xuan's state and murder of Yue Fenger, a Heroes Conference was held, and all sects came forward to hunt Rong Xuan down and kill him for good, ending his rampage. After a few days, a bloody battle ensued between the sects and the Five Lakes Alliance brothers: Gao Chong, Zhao Jing, Lu Taichong and Shen Shen. Zhang Yusen wished to fight alongside Rong Xuan, however, he was unable to due to his father breaking his legs.

### The Battle of Mount Qingya

The battle between Rong Xuan and Jianghu sects took place on Mount Qingya, the battle went on for days, with Rong Xuan killing more and more people while getting more injured, he dissociated occasionally from the qi deviation and had hallucinations. In one of his episodes, Wen Ruyu arrived on the scene, and attempted to negotiate with the sects in exchange for Rong Xuan's safety, offering to save every life Rong Xuan had taken, and promising to take him back to the Immortal Physician Valley away.

This speech went through Rong Xuan for a moment, as he regained sanity and didn't want Wen Ruyu to become complicit by his actions. Rong Xuan stood up and knocked Wen Ruyu out, setting him gently on the ground before resuming the battle.

Many lives were taken by Rong Xuan, and eventually it culminated into Rong Xuan committing suicide out of self-despair rather than defeat.

### Legacy

> Changqing, Xuan'er, let me eat two more bowls on your behalf!
>
> Ye Baiyi

After the death of Rong Xuan, many Ghosts from the Ghost Valley emerged from their place, and started to combat the weakened martial art heroes, leading to further losses. His father, Rong Changqing, did not know that he had died.

While the martial arts world regard him as a demon, the true motive to hunting Rong Xuan down was to obtain the armoury key. The incident was a stain in the martial arts history, as well as the Five Lakes Alliance, where the five brothers were divided and became brothers in name only. Rong Xuan was regarded as a genius but also as a demon, his name was not cleared out until the second Heroes Conference, where the truth about the incident was revealed to the public and that it was Zhao Jing who poisoned him, which led to tragedy.

After the heroes Conference, Ye Baiyi carried Rong Xuan's ashes in a jar, and intends to bury him in Mount Changming.

## Novel Difference

In the novel, Rong Xuan's involvement with the Five Great Sects was minor and there was no poisoning scheme.

When Rong Xuan wanted to severe his own meridians to achieve the ultimate martial art technique, all of the five brothers, including Gao Chong, backed off in fear, and decided not to align themselves with Rong Xuan when he had gone mad.

Rong Xuan had indeed severed his heart meridians, and Yue Fenger could not accept that her husband will die this way, so she resorted to using the Yin Yang Tome to save him, while he lived, he qi-deviated and fleed. Later, he encountered Yue Fenger in the armoury and in his frenzy, accidentally killed her. While he was stunned at his own actions, Long Que and Wen Ruyu stumbled on this scene, and just as Wen Ruyu was about to fight him, he fled once again.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Web-Series, Episode 19
2. ↑ Web-Series, Episode 12
3. ↑ Web-Series, Episode 32
4. ↑ Novel, Chapter 51