A Thousand Li: The Third Cut: A Xianxia Cultivation Novel characters

Also known as Verdant Gatherer

Appears from the start

A Core Formation cultivator of Verdant Green Waters who travels as a professional gatherer. He studies wind, fights with a jian, and tends a growing world-spirit ring. His journey south combines an inquiry into corrupted beast cores with the development of his Wandering Dragon sword art.

Also known as Formation Master

Appears from the start

A young Core Formation cultivator who leaves her powerful innkeeper parents to gain experience beside Wu Ying. Her wood and spatial techniques make her a capable companion, though she is still learning the caution required in the wilds.

Also known as Former Monk

Appears from the start

Wu Ying's old friend and a Verdant Green Waters elder, now in Core Formation. Fire-dragon blood changed his body, and his unusual cultivation uses two dantians. He fights with a staff and carries a potent flame suited to confronting the corruption spreading through the south.

Also known as Guard Captain

Appears from the start

An earth- and metal-aspected Core Formation officer serving the southern city lord. He confirms that increasingly dangerous tainted beasts threaten the region and authorizes Wu Ying's group to hunt them.

Appears from the start

A water-aspected Core Formation cultivator seeking advancement. At a riverside auction, Elder Huang offers Wu Ying a preserved Clear-Mind Immortal Soul Pill in exchange for an untainted fish core, making the strongest bid under the sale's restricted terms.

Also known as Fairy Yang

Appears from the start

Wu Ying's elder martial sister and a member of his Verdant Green Waters martial family.

Also known as Sundering Blade, Master Cheng

Appears from the start

Wu Ying's demanding sword master at Verdant Green Waters and an important protector from his earlier life. Elder Cheng's instruction remains part of Wu Ying's martial foundation as Wu Ying develops a personal sword path during his travels away from the sect.

Also known as Special-Unit Commander

First appears in chapter 19

The formidable commander of a capital special unit sent to investigate the southern corruption. She initially regards Wu Ying and his allies as possible saboteurs, but admits them after they identify the danger as potentially demonic and offer useful combat, cleansing, and formation skills.

Also known as Elderly Swordsmith

First appears in chapter 20

An elderly body cultivator, blade practitioner, and master swordsmith at a major southern armory. He tests Wu Ying's sword understanding, recognizes the Heart of the Sword, and presents several saint-level jian whose qualities arise from their making rather than added inscriptions.

First appears in chapter 21

A friendly, bow-armed scout and tracker serving in the capital's special unit.

First appears in chapter 21

A guarded, bookish scholar serving in the capital's special unit.

Also known as Fortune Teller

First appears in chapter 21

An abrasive formation specialist and diviner attached to the capital's special unit. He is openly hostile toward Wu Ying's wood-aligned companion as the divided party begins its advance.

Also known as Guandao Fighter

First appears in chapter 21

An aggressive front-line combatant in the capital's special unit who wields a guandao and carries a metal aspect. She joins the expedition's strained introductions with little patience for the outsiders, but supplies direct martial force as the group enters corrupted wilderness.

Also known as Colonel's Bonded Raptor

First appears in chapter 22

A hereditary military spirit beast bonded to the special-unit colonel. Its command of air and Nascent Soul strength make it the expedition's dominant aerial fighter. Its independence is immediately concerning when it ignores a planned ambush and consumes meat from corrupted beasts.

First appears in chapter 37

A temple-dwelling beast at Nascent Soul strength, disfigured by an unnatural limb and embedded spikes that carry corruption. It ruins the expedition's unfinished containment array and attacks its members.