Jiang He

He first appears when he drops from a treetop at the Wang wooden house outside a small village under Qing Mao Mountain, wearing a deep blue Gu Master uniform and a scarlet belt whose metal plate carries the word Two. The hunters greet him as the Gu Master stationed at that village, and he names himself Jiang He of the Gu Yue clan. ^{ch. 69} That mountain stage sits in the Southern Border. ^{ch. 4 ch. 69}

Appearance

He wears a deep blue uniform and a scarlet belt with a metal plate in the middle. A huge Two is carved on that plate. He has a slim build and slender eyes. He wears arm protectors on his wrists and sturdy leg bindings on his calves. ^{ch. 69} He has slim long eyes and a thin body. ^{ch. 92}

Stationed Gu Master and Wang cover-up

The text describes a slim, slender-eyed rank two with arm protectors and sturdy leg bindings, radiating a capable look while ignoring the kneeling hunters to question Fang Yuan. Fang Yuan shows a Moonlight Gu and states that he killed Old man Wang’s household; Jiang He first praises the kill, then presses that the deaths hurt his year-end clan assessment as the Gu Master sent to protect those villagers. When Fang Yuan refuses to pay and names himself, Jiang He recognizes the academy stories told by Jiang Ya, drops the report threat, and plans to blame wild beasts instead, while warning Fang Yuan not to cause more trouble in his jurisdiction without a Gu Master uniform. ^{ch. 69}

Fang Yuan later reads that Wang Da would not kill Jiang He, because a Gu Master’s death would bring clan investigation, and that Jiang He would cover hunter disappearances to protect his own evaluation. ^{ch. 74} The same stretch notes that Wang Da lived at home for three years under Jiang He’s observation, which Fang Yuan takes as proof of a stealth Gu at work. ^{ch. 75} After Wang Da dies, Jiang He tells Fang Yuan that the two young hunters vanished on the mountain and that the hunter with the broken right hand “committed suicide,” looks at him meaningfully after recognizing Wang Da’s corpse, and keeps the demonic cultivator’s identity quiet because three years of missed investigation would ruin his clan record. He then bribes Fang Yuan with a fifty percent discount at Jiang Ya’s shop. ^{ch. 78}

Half-alliance and rank two shelter

Fang Yuan treats that shared secret as half an ally and a non-existent faction that can help him cultivate toward rank two with less opposition. ^{ch. 78} When the clan later presses him toward Qing Shu, Chi Shan, or Mo Yan’s groups, he first thinks of joining Jiang He’s group instead, then rejects the idea because that group is backed by the punishment hall elder and would look wrong under public eyes. ^{ch. 87}

Ahead of his rank two breakthrough he leaves Gu Yue village for the hamlet at the mountain foot and stays several days at Jiang He’s place, safer than the rock crack secret cave because Jiang He has no gain in silencing him and must worry that a punishment-hall inquiry into Fang Yuan’s death could expose the Old man Wang secret. He is again called Jiang Ya’s brother, slim-eyed and thin-bodied, and is shown relieved when Fang Yuan emerges alive, then shocked that the rank two advance succeeded in one go. After the breakthrough he grows friendlier, feeds Fang Yuan, walks him to the village entrance, warns that the wolf nest area has grown fiercer, and asks him to stay another snowy night before Fang Yuan leaves anyway. ^{ch. 92} A later vitality-leaf chapter still names that kinship and calls Jiang He Fang Yuan’s half-alliance mate when choosing Jiang Ya as middleman. ^{ch. 107}

Kinship with Jiang Ya

Exposure before the clan