Bai Meizhen

Bai Meizhen is a ducal house member, and was the second person Ling Qi approached at the Argent Peak Sect and became Ling Qi's roommate. She is extremely dedicated to her clan, the Bai, and is proud of their traditions and works to meet the clan's expectations.

She is a young woman with pale skin, white hair, and golden slited eyes, reminiscent of a snake. She is short and petite with a consistent ethereal grace to her movements.

## Abilities

Bai Meizhen has been colloquially called one of the "Monsters" by the player-base due to her political position, the resources at her disposal which come from it, and her cultivation advantage relative to all but a handful of others at the Outer Sect. *Exceedingly* strong, Bai Meizhen has the potential to crush the majority of the Outer Sect in single combat, and in theory a majority of the lesser members all at once, with her only real rivals being Sun Liling and Cai Renxiang.

Bai Meizhen focuses on being defensive when in combat, supplementing extremely tough defense with powerful counters and potent toxins. This combination makes it extremely dangerous to confront her, as it is nearly impossible to damage her in a meaningful way while she is able to land devastating counters against you. Her weapon is an urumi, or whip sword, similar to a cat 'o nine tails whip made out of metal.

Bai Meizhen seems to be moving towards fear and terror as her weapons of choice. She has been able to cultivate her aura and focus her Domain to such an extent that should she lose control of her emotions other lesser cultivators will be reduced to tears and small animals will die from heart attacks due to the terror. This is before she intentionally directs that fear and terror. Ling Qi seems to be somewhat immune to this aura, which could be due to acclimatization or the relationship between Bai Meizhen and Ling Qi, or both.

## Story

Bai Meizhen was first encountered when Ling Qi was looking for roommates after Sect Elder Jiao's introduction in Hall Four, or Hall One in the re-write. Ling Qi managed to be accepted by the reclusive girl, and they became roommates, which would in turn become the seed for an extremely strong and complex relationship.

Meizhen was one of Ling Qi's first tutors in basic Immortal lore and helped her Awaken as a Cultivator. She also acted as a mentor in politics and basic occultism and spirit diplomacy for Ling Qi as Ling Qi progressed, along with being a sparring partner during their mutual art training.

## Bound Spirits

Bai Meizhen has two bound spirit companions.

Bai Cui, a cousin of Bai Meizhen, is a serpent that has been with Bai Meizhen for the entirety that Ling Qi has known her. Cui has bright green scales that reminded Ling Qi of expensive jade and eyes the exact same golden shade as Meizhen's. Cui comes from the serpent lines of the Bai clan, though her father was a sapient assassins dagger. Cui is not particularly fond of Ling Qi, due to the heartbreak that Ling Qi caused Bai Meizhen, but Meizhen has been marginally successful in soothing these feelings.

Bai Meizhen's second spirit is an incorporeal spirit which lives in her shadow, a being under the classification of "Heart Bursting Phantasms". While it appears that no name has been given to it, it is known as the "Terror Phantasm," in combat logs. It was a gift to Bai Meizhen from her grandfather and is a spirit "composed of the congealed terror from an old battlefield," according to her. While it is not exactly clear what the capabilities of such a spirit are, it was able to give Ling Qi a vision of an ancient battlefield and force her to experience the terror that the participants felt. It is also powerful in its own right, existing somewhere in the Third Realm of cultivation even though it is young.

During Meizhen's battle with Sun Lilling at the end of the Inner Sect Promotional Tournament, it blocked one of the Western Princess's powerful sure hit blood spears after partially merging with Meizhen. It was however, injured or weakened for this feat and it's condition is unknown. Though given the access disciples had to medical attention in the tourney it is likely fine.

## Relationship with Ling Qi

Due to the nature of the Bai, Ling Qi is the first friend that Bai Meizhen has ever had, and as such Meizhen has demonstrated profound protectiveness of Ling Qi. Of particular note is the effort that Meizhen went to in order to assist Ling Qi in dealing with a threat that Ling Qi was unaware of, when the character Yan Renshu attempting to poison her spirit and adoptive brother Zhengui.

Other instances are apparent in Meizhen's actions during the second Thunderdome during Sun Liling's rebellion after Ling Qi was impaled by the Sun Princess. And her displeasure with Ling Qi taking a risk by going to the Moon Rave where she ended up meeting Sixiang.

This protectiveness is also a result of the romantic feelings that Bai Meizhen developed towards Ling Qi, which caused no small amount of stress, pain, and heartbreak when she found out that Ling Qi did not return those feelings. However, Bai Meizhen and Ling Qi were able to work through this difficult time and re-solidify the friendship between herself and Ling Qi and at this point their friendship is strong and healthy.

Both girls are sources of support for each other and their relationship is layered, beyond the mutual protectiveness. Several times Ling Qi and Meizhen have discussed the nature of the Empire, it's politics, a little about the Bai, and Meizhen's opinions on a variety of the clans of the Empire. Meizhen also offered to Ling Qi the chance to help her in the Serpent's Treasure trial, which led to Ling Qi recieving Zhengui's egg.

## Relationships with Family

Her grandfather trained her along with the rest of the youngest generation of the Bai. He watched over survival exercises that put Bai Meizhen through hunger, pain, and privation, but while he kept her from dying in such exercises they do not share a close familial bond. Her grandfather had *"hardly ever even spoken to her directly, save an occasional correction or word of grudging praise at success,"* according to Meizhen.

Hou Zhuang is Bai Meizhen's father. She considers him to be an embarrassment to the Bai and thinks of him as *"a concession in the name of financial concerns, a rabbit in the den of serpents."* Her bitterness also extends to his lack of presence.

  Her cousins are rivals for position in the clan. They may share a degree of polite cordiality and the acknowledgement that they would back one another against outsiders, but little else. Bai Meizhen chose to not engage with them extensively however.

Bai Meizhen is closest to her aunt Bai Suzhen. She had given her Cui, and awakened her spirit so that she could communicate properly with her cousin. Bai Suzhen, of all of Bai Meizhen's family had showed her the most kindness and consideration.

It had disappointed Bai Meizhen when she was young that she had little talent for the metal arts that Bai Suzhen favored. Bai Suzhen however was incredibly busy with the business of the clan and her government duties. Bai Meizhen could count the times she had spoken to her on the fingers of one hand.

## Relationships with Others

   While Ling Qi remains Bai Meizhen's closest friend, Meizhen has been able to branch out and form a working relationship with Cai Renxiang, who is Ling Qi's liege. This relationship is primarily formed through the two engaging in embroidery and working together to suppress Sun Liling and Sun Liling's faction. It is unclear whether Bai Meizhen considers Cai Renxiang a friend, or merely an associate and friendly peer.

Given Meizhen's reserved and prickly personality, this relationship is quite likely to be slow to change.

Bai Meizhen detests Sun Liling for the conquest into the West the Sun orchestrated against the Bai Clan's wishes and the ramifications and consequences of the Bai's failed disciplinary attempt. While the betrayal happened centuries ago, the consequences are still plaguing the Bai politically today and may have something to do with the framing of Bai Meizhen's mother as the murderer of a Prince, resulting in her execution. How Sun Liling skewering Ling Qi during the events of what is called the "Thunderdome Redux" affected this is not currently known.

Bai Meizhen also has determined that she will kill Kang Zihao, a supporter of Sun Liling, for the insult levied against her clan and specifically against her family. While she is prevented from doing so in the Argent Sect, the Bai are known for long plots and longer memories with Bai Meizhen being no different. It is thus expected amongst the player-base that she will be successful at some point in the future.

## Trivia

* Often referred to as Best Snek amongst the player-base.
* Has appeared before in other Yrsillar stories.