Zhao Jing

* Adult
* Young

**Zhao Jing** (赵敬, *Zhào Jìng*) is the leader of the Tai Hu Sect and the second oldest brother of the Five Lakes Alliance.

## Appearance

As a rich man, Zhao Jing wears rich robes with golden hues, only wearing basic robes when mourning. Before marrying into the Tai Hu Sect, he wore the basic robes of the sect, signifying his lower rank in comparison to his brothers, who were young masters at the time.

## Personality

Among his brothers, Zhao Jing is the most friendly, always welcoming and sympathetic of everyone. His position on matters is always passive, not wanting to resort to violence and being the first one to surrender. Zhao Jing is always prone to tears and begging, sacrificing his image and dignity.

Despite his past, Zhao Jing does have a gallant aura to him. He doesn't look down on the ragged Zhou Zishu who can’t even walk properly. However, he is also experienced. Through Zhang Chengling’s stories of the dangers he had to face on the journey, he becomes suspicious of the beggar-looking man’s (Zhou's) background.

Underneath the surface, it is revealed that all of the pitifulness is simply a façade, where a plan of almost twenty years lays underneath. Zhao Jing is shown to be extremely manipulative, switching demeanours when its needed and playing on emotions to get what he wants. He hides all of this by acting innocent, where no one can suspect that he has been responsible for the deaths of many.

## History

### From Rags to Riches

#### Background

Contrary to what everyone believes, Zhao Jing does not come from noble birth, but was the son of a servant.

Thirty years ago, Zhao Jing served the master of Tai Hu Sect at the time, Zhao Wenyuan, as he was severely ill due to the death of his son, and was bedridden as a result. Zhao Jing was the one to serve him and take good care of him, this gesture touched Zhao Wenyuan's heart, and eventually named him as godson and eventually, the successor of the Tai Hu Sect.

Considering that Zhao Jing kept Zhao Wenyuan's thumb ring as a token of his schemes, it is most likely that his master's eventual death was planned by him.

#### Wedding and Murder

Zhao Jing became romantically involved with the Neon Palace Princess, Luo Fumeng, both had a loving relationship until Zhao Jing left Luo Fumeng for Li Yao, a woman of high noble birth. Devastated, Luo Fumeng kept crying all day and sent Zhao Jing a handkerchief written in her blood, quoting "*If you don't lose me, I won't lose you*". Luo Fumeng's father couldn't handle seeing his daughter heartbroken, so he coerced Zhao Jing into marrying Luo Fumeng; by threatening him with exposing the secret of the Liuli Armour, and alluring him with the position of becoming the Neon Palace Master.

Unhappy with this arrangement, Zhao Jing allied with the enemies of the Neon Palace, and led a slaughter on the day of their wedding, killing everyone in the Neon Palace but Luo Fumeng, leaving her to suffer as there was no solid evidence of Zhao Jing's doings. Instead, Zhao Jing married Li Yao and they had a happy marriage.

The incident was altered to the public (presumably by Zhao Jing), stating that Luo Fumeng had gone mad from a heartbreak, and slaughtered everyone in the Neon Palace and eventually killed herself after the slaughter, her hair turned white, and Luo Fumeng became the Matrimonial-Funerary Ghost.

#### The Five Brothers

As the second brother, Zhao Jing was one of the brothers in the Five Lakes Alliance alongside Gao Chong, Lu Taichong, Zhang Yusen and Shen Shen.

In comparison to his brothers, Zhao Jing was not a young master, but still a disciple of the Tai Hu Sect, which made him feel inferior to the others, and tended to be isolative, the others were welcoming of him nonetheless.

Zhao Jing pretended to be in support of Rong Xuan's theory, which was that all sects must come together and share their learnings, and even partook in stealing scrolls from his own and others sects alongside his brothers. However, Zhao Jing believed that the idea was "bullshit" and that Rong Xuan's theory made Zhao Jing efforts in climbing the ranks vanish.

Once the Armoury was created, the key to it was created and split into five parts where each brother had a piece.

Therefore, Zhao Jing held one piece of the Liuli Armour.

#### The Battle of Qingya Mountain

One day, Zhao Jing was seen taking scrolls from Mount Tai, the master at the time, referred to the Yue Yang Sect's master, Gao Chong's father, for investigation. Upon hearing about this, Gao Chong marched to Zhao Jing, informing him of the news while scolding him for being seen. This had put Zhao Jing in danger of being banished from his sect, or have his martial arts taken, as well as endangering the four other brothers if news spread out of their motives. This incident created hostility from Zhao Jing's side, as it made Gao Chong a prime target for his future schemes.

Rong Xuan came up with the idea of sparring the five brothers together at once in order to solve the matter, Zhao Jing saw this opportunity as an opportunity to get rid of Rong Xuan. Zhao Jing knew that injuries would occur during the spar, so he secretly applied poison on Gao Chong's sword with the Three-Corpse Poison, making him a prime suspect.

The 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, including Zhao Jing who pretended to be shocked.

Afterwards, Rong Xuan went mad, and started a killing rampage. Once Zhao Jing heard about the battle happening in Mount Qingya between the sects and Rong Xuan, he went there to fight against Rong Xuan. After everything was over, Zhao Jing took Gao Chong's old poison as a token of a scheme succeeded.

#### Search for the Key

> I'm your Uncle Zhao [...] I'm your parents' good friend, Ruyu and Miaomiao definitely have mentioned me before, right?
>
> Zhao Jing to Zhen Yan

After the battle of Mount Qingya, there was no lead to the key's whereabouts, and it left Zhao Jing stumped as the answers lay with the Wen Family, who had disappeared after their exile.

One day, Zhao Jing overheard the surname "Zhen" from a group of kids who were bullying a younger kid. Zhao Jing then concluded that the young kid is the son of Wen Ruyu and Gu Miaomiao, Zhen Yan. Zhao Jing then assured Zhen Yan when he became worried, telling him that he is a good friend of his parents, so Zhen Yan can lead him to where his parents are. The trick succeeds, and Zhen Yan leads Zhao Jing to the farm, happy to have found a good friend of his parents. Wen Ruyu and Gu Miaomiao greeted him quite warmly, having found an old friend since the incident. Gu Miaomiao asked Zhen Yan to go out and play a little while they talk.

Once Zhao Jing asked about the armoury key, Gu Miaomiao started yelling at him, saying that she knew it was Zhao Jing who poisoned Rong Xuan, and raised her opinion of Zhao Jing back then and now, that she knew that Gao Chong was not the type of person to commit such a crime, but Zhao Jing was. Zhao Jing discarded his act and admitted that he was indeed, a "shameless and despicable" man, but now he has the upper hand in this room. Zhao Jing threatened the pair, first by attempting to touch Gu Miaomiao inappropriately, and then by hitting a weakened Wen Ruyu. Zhao Jing tried to make a bargin, stating that he will give them the Yin Yang Tome to heal Wen Ruyu, and they can return to the Immortal Physician Valley.

However, Gu Miaomiao had poisoned the tea Zhao Jing drank beforehand, having already suspected his motives, the poison would have led to death if it wasn't for a specific cure that Zhao Jing is required to take constantly from the Wen Family. Outplayed, Zhao Jing storms outside and leaves, and in vengeance, leads the Ghost Valley into the Wen Family's whereabouts, causing their death.

The poison caused his martial arts to be severely diminished, and for years he tried to take treatment to restore them back, until then, Zhao Jing was known to be one of the weakest brothers among the five, unable to cut a simple rope.

#### Divided Brotherhood

After the incident of Rong Xuan and the death of Wen Ruyu and Gu Miaomiao, the five brothers split and were brothers in name only. Zhao Jing acted as weak and unthreatening, known for his riches and wealth in the Sanbai manor that he owned. However, Zhao Jing was plotting a scheme of events, wanting to climb to the rank of the head of the Five Lakes Alliance, recruiting disciples form the Yue Yang Sect such as Song Huairen and Xie Wuyang, while simultaneously planning for the downfall and defamation of Gao Chong, who Zhao Jing still held hatred and grudge against.

At some point in his life, he found a young boy near Ninjiang and decided to adopt him.

At some point in his career, Tian Chuang gave him two titles: Sai Mengchang (赛孟尝, *Sài Mèngcháng*) and Zhao Xuande (赵玄德, *Zhào Xuándé*).

## Novel Difference

In the series, Zhao Jing is a mixture between Scorpian King and Zhao Jing in the novel. Zhao Jing role in the novel is smaller, and most of the actions and characteristics are from Scorpian King within the novel.

Zhao Jing was once exiled from his family and spent his days in suffering. He had committed crimes for money. This was similar to what Qin Song had done.

He only started using his real name Zhao Jing again at twenty-seven, after marrying the only daughter of the Feng family that owned Tai Hu. He used nepotism to build wealth. He also secretly killed off the ones who knew of his past, and was reaccepted into the Zhao family after the marriage.

## Gallery

**Promotional Material**

**Official Drama Stills**

**Official Posters**

**Official Q-Version**

## Trivia

* The two names given by Tian Chuang have their significance to Zhao Jing's character:
	+ Sai Mengchang refers to Lord Mengchang, a statesman from the Qi Kingdom, he was said to be kind and generous, using his inherited wealth to help people and was extremely friendly to everyone around and open to improve himself, never to be doubted to be a bad person.
	+ On the other hand, Zhao Xuande refers to Liu Bei (courtesy name: Xuande) who used tears to convince people of his case and rely on the emotional aspect.
* In the Commemorative Artbook, Zhao Jing's pages have the following verses:
	+ 谗邪害公正，玉碎浮名下: Vilifiers and the wicked inflict harm on the just and fair; clouds conceal the brilliant sun.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Web-Series, Episode 33
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Web-Series, Episode 28
3. ↑ Web-Series, Episode 26
4. ↑ Web-Series, Episode 05
5. ↑ Web-Series, Episode 16