Youth[]
Meng Yao was born in a brothel in Yunping City, the son of the prostitute Meng Shi and the leader of the Lanling Jin Clan, Jin Guangshan. His mother held steadfast to the belief that Jin Guangshan would come to take his son back to learn cultivation, and she devoted much of her time and money towards teaching her son for this moment.[1]
He was frequently bullied by several prostitutes, including Anxin, who considered his mother arrogant and foolish. When Meng Yao was about thirteen or fourteen, he was kicked down the stairs and fell unconscious after trying to defend Meng Shi from a dissatisfied john. In the end, his mother's friend Sisi defended her.[1]
Once Meng Shi died of an unspecified illness, the teenaged Meng Yao made his way to Lanling to request his father's acceptance. He brought a pearl that his father had given his mother as a token, and requested it be shown to Jin Guangshan.[2]
Unfortunately, he had arrived on the birthday of Jin Guangshan's only legitimate son, Jin Zixuan. Sensing Madam Jin's fury, Jin Guangshan ground the pearl to dust and ordered Meng Yao kicked down the stairs of Golden Carp Tower.[2]
Sunshot Campaign[]
Sheltering Lan Xichen[]
According to Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's Weibo, Meng Yao worked as a bookkeeper after his disgrace at Golden Carp Tower.[3] When Lan Xichen flees the burning Cloud Recesses with the Gusu Lan Clan's valuable scrolls, Meng Yao hides Lan Xichen from the pursuing Qishan Wen Clan cultivators.[4]
During this time, he insists on washing Lan Xichen's clothes himself, as Lan Xichen often rips his clothing due to his prodigious arm strength.[3]
Hejian Front[]
When the fighting begins, Meng Yao joins Nie Mingjue's cultivators. He often stays behind to clean up the battlefields, earning his commander's appreciation. However, despite caring for his fellow soldiers, many cultivators continue to mock him for his origins. As a result, Meng Yao eats alone, outside the caves where the other cultivators take shelter.[2]
Nie Mingjue is infuriated by the gossip, and harshly criticizes his subordinates for Meng Yao's sake. Eventually, he promotes Meng Yao to be his right-hand man, and is greatly pleased by Meng Yao's capabilities and conduct.[2]
Langya Front[]
One night, Nie Mingjue overhears a conversation between the visiting Lan Xichen and Meng Yao, in which Lan Xichen asks whether Meng Yao still wishes to earn his father's approval. When Meng Yao replies that he did, Nie Mingjue interruptesto announce that he will write him a recommendation letter immediately the next morning, to Meng Yao's astonishment and gratitude.[2]
Unfortunately, Jin Guangshan has no desire to welcome his son into his clan. Though Meng Yao stays as a soldier, Jin Guangshan refuses to see his son, and Meng Yao toils under a commander who frequently mocks him and steals credit for his ideas.[2]
Given the closeness of the Laoling Qin Clan and the Lanling Jin Clan, it is most likely at Langya where Meng Yao saves the life of his future wife Qin Su.[5]
As the war intensifies in Langya, Jin Guangshan finally calls for Nie Mingjue's aid. After Nie Mingjue helps stabilize the situation, he inquires after Meng Yao, on whom Jin Guangshan feigns ignorance. Nie Mingjue then leaves to find his former right-hand man, presuming he will be cleaning up the battlefield as before.
Although Nie Mingjue finds Meng Yao, he witnesses him use the techniques of the Qishan Wen Clan to kill his commander. Alarmed at Meng Yao's quick ability to switch from cold and calculating to panicked and tearful, Nie Mingjue accuses Meng Yao of manipulating him all along – from the moment Nie Mingjue defended him against his gossiping subordinates.
Meng Yao eventually pretends to agree to Nie Mingjue's insistence that he turn himself in to his father, but instead stabs himself. When the horrified Nie Mingjue tries to give him spiritual energy, Meng Yao freezes Nie Mingjue's qi and escapes, to the latter's shock and outrage.[2]
Nightless City[]
Sometime later, Nie Mingjue begins to receive detailed maps and information from letters provided by Lan Xichen. Though he does not know the identity of the letter-writer, Nie Mingue is able to depend on the information to make great advances during the war.[6]
However, Nie Mingjue and several subordinates were captured during a surprise attack at Yanqquan. After being brought to Nightless City, Nie Mingjue encounters Meng Yao as the right-hand man of none other than Wen Ruohan.[6] In fact, Meng Yao is Wen Ruohan's principle torturer in the Inferno Palace, and often invents devices to please his sadistic master.[5]
When Nie Mingjue insults Wen Ruohan, Meng Yao retaliates by killing his subordinates. In addition, Meng Yao uses Nie Mingjue's saber Baxia to mock Nie Mingjue's worst memory: the death of his father. The furious Nie Mingjue strikes Meng Yao before Wen Ruohan intervenes.[6]
Wen Ruohan easily defeats the already-wounded Nie Mingjue. Meng Yao convinces his master to allow him to take Nie Mingjue to the Inferno Palace for a slow death, but once Wen Ruohan's guard is down, Meng Yao kills Wen Ruohan instead.[6]
Meng Yao then escapes Nightless City with Nie Mingjue and Baxia. When Nie Mingjue awakens, he ignores Meng Yao's pleas that he had killed his subordinates to save Nie Mingjue's life. Nie Mingjue chases him into a forest, hacking wildly with Baxia, until Lan Xichen arrives and explains that Meng Yao has been the letter-writer, and in fact summoned Lan Xichen immediately upon news of Nie Mingjue's capture.[6]
Venerated Triad[]
Jin Guangyao later claims that Jin Guangshan had requested that he assassinate of Wen Ruohan, though whether it was a true request or merely something he did to please his father is unknown.[7]
Either way, Meng Yao is recognized by the Lanling Jin Clan at last, taking on the name Jin Guangyao, titled as Lianfang-Zun. He also takes a vow of sworn brotherhood with Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen at the latter's request, and is thus known as part of the Venerated Triad (三尊).[6]
Fall of Wei Wuxian[]
As Jin Guangshan seeks to advance the Lanling Jin Clan's power through demonic cultivation, Jin Guangyao recommends the delinquent Xue Yang as a potential cultivator shortly after the end of the Sunshot Campaign. Xue Yang, in fact, is the only recruit who showed any talent for demonic cultivation, to Jin Guangyao's joy. Jin Guangyao is tasked with watching over Xue Yang.[8]
Jin Guangyao plans the night-hunt on Mount Baifeng, which inadvertently results in an initial confrontation between his cousin Jin Zixun and Wei Wuxian. Despite his attempts to pacify the situation, his stepmother madam Jin seizes the opportunity to harshly criticize him.[9]
Not long after, Wei Wuxian interrupts a private banquet held by the Lanling Jin Clan to speak with Jin Zixun. Initially, his presence alleviates Jin Guangyao's attempts to stop Jin Zixun from pressuring Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji to drink. However, when Wei Wuxian correctly surmises Jin Guangshan's lust for power and, specifically, the Yin Tiger Tally, Jin Guangyao is forced to clean up the table his father kicks over in his anger. He is further humiliated when Jin Zixun throws liquor on his robes, though Lan Xichen provides a handkerchief.[10]
Jin Guangshan holds an emergency meeting among prominent clan leaders that night, as Wei Wuxian had killed several Lanling Jin Clan cultivators for abusing the remnants of the Qishan Wen Clan at Qiongqi Path. When Jin Guangshan suggests that Wei Wuxian had spoken ill of his shidi, Clan Leader Jiang Cheng, Lan Wangji swiftly corrects him. To support his father, Jin Guangyao leaps in to say he cannot remember clearly, a lie that Nie Mingjue notices but does not comment on until the discussion has finished.[11]
After several months, Jin Guangyao's relationship with Jin Zixuan and Jin Zixun begins to improve, to the extent that both referred to him as "A-Yao." Jin Guangyao learns that Jin Zixun has been afflicted cursed with the Hundred Holes Curse, and plans to assist his cousin's ambush of Wei Wuxian on his way to the one-month celebration of Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli's son Jin Ling.[12]
Hoping to benefit from political chaos that will result, Jin Guangyao informs Jin Zixuan of their cousin's plan, placing his half-brother in a tense situation between his cousin and his wife's shidi. He expects Jin Zixuan to encounter difficulty when he leaves to intervene, but he does not expect Wei Wuxian's loss of control that results in the deaths of both Jin Zixuan and Jin Zixun.[7]
When Wen Ning and Wen Qing come to surrender themselves to Golden Carp Tower, Wen Ning suddenly loses control and slaughtered several clans' disciples. Given that Jin Guangyao later reveals that Jin Guangshan had asked him to arrange Wei Wuxian's downfall, it seems likely that Jin Guangyao arranged for Xue Yang to control Wen Ning.[7] To this extent, author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu has confirmed that Wen Ning's actions were "not an accident."[13]
Jin Guangyao is present at the Bloodbath of Nightless City[14] and the First Siege of the Burial Mounds that leads to Wei Wuxian's death.[8]
Xue Yang and Demonic Cultivation[]
In the aftermath of Jin Zixuan's death, Madam Jin begins to beat Jin Guangyao so severely that Xue Yang mistakes the bruises for those left by Nie Mingjue. To continue surviving, Jin Guangyao must bring his father home from the brothels he visits before his wife notices he is missing.[6][8]
After the downfall of Wei Wuxian, Jin Guangyao is tasked with assisting Xue Yang's efforts to reconstruct half of the Yin Tiger Tally. Jin Guangyao manages to recover partial portions of Wei Wuxian's manuscripts, and brings Xue Yang people to turn into Fierce Corpses.[8]
One such person is He Su, the young leader of the Tingshan He Clan and an outspoken political rival of Jin Guangshan's. Jin Guangyao brings the entire Tingshan He Clan for execution on false charges, even the children and elderly members. Although he expresses distress when Xue Yang orders He Su thrown into a cage alive to be torn apart in front of his younger siblings, he did not intervene.[8]
That same day, Xue Yang accompanies Jin Guangyao on his effort to bring his father home from the brothel. He is thus present when Jin Guangyao overhears Jin Guangshan describe why he had never redeemed Meng Shi: that a literate woman was too much trouble. As for his son, Jin Guangshan says, "forget it."[8]
After hearing this, Jin Guangyao arranges for Xue Yang to burn down the brothel he had grown up in, and eventually, he loses all hope of obtaining his father's love because of this comment.[7][8]
Marriage to Qin Su[]
About one year after the death of Wei Wuxian,[15] Jin Guangyao seeks to marry Qin Su, who had pursued him since he saved her life during the Sunshot Campaign.[5]
Although Qin Cangye is hesitant due to Jin Guangyao's origins, eventually, both Qin Cangye and Jin Guangshan approve the match. However, afraid of further delays, the couple consummate their relationship before their wedding and conceive Jin Rusong.[7]
Jin Guangyao is thus terrified once Madam Qin reveals that Jin Guangshan had once raped her, and as a result, Qin Su is his sister. Afraid of the many consequences to breaking their engagement, he marries Qin Su anyways, though he never sleeps with her again.[7]
Death of Nie Mingjue[]
Xue Yang is eventually caught after using the Yin Tiger Tally to massacre the Yueyang Chang Clan. Although Jin Guangshan objects to Xiao Xingchen's demands for severe punishment, he eventually caves after Nie Mingjue's sharp rebuke.[16]
At that point, however, Nie Mingjue becomes Jin Guangshan's main political rival. To make matters worse, once Jin Guangshan commutes Xue Yang's death sentence to life imprisonment, Nie Mingjue approaches Jin Guangyao in a rage to demand he kill Xue Yang.[6]
Jin Guangyao expresses fear of his father's retribution, pointing out that Jin Guangshan has recently brought his half-brother Mo Xuanyu to Golden Carp Tower to ensure that Jin Guangyao can never succeed him. Frustrated, Nie Mingjue reminds him of the men he had killed for political gain in the past, prompting Jin Guangyao to ask Nie Mingjue how he arbitrates who deserves to live and die.[6]
Nie Mingjue counters by asking him if he thinks he is different than those who died, and Jin Guangyao replies yes with a look of "faint insanity" on his face.[6]
Incensed, Nie Mingjue kicks Jin Guangyao down the stairs of Golden Carp Tower, calling him the "son of a prostitute" who was "beyond redemption." Lan Xichen once more has to intervene to keep Nie Mingjue from killing Jin Guangyao.[6]
Wei Wuxian strongly implies that only after this incident does Jin Guangyao begin to poison Nie Mingjue.[17] Jin Guangyao sneaks into the Gusu Lan Clan's Room of Forbidden Books to remove a section from Collection of Turmoil that sounds like a section from Purification Tone. As he continues to play the guqin to calm Nie Mingjue's growing saber spirit, he is in fact slowly catalyzing his impending qi deviation.[18]
Jin Guangyao approaches the Impure Realm the day after the stairs incident. He witnesses Nie Mingjue berate Nie Huaisang and burn his younger brother's art, and has to hold Nie Huaisang back to prevent him from burning himself.[6]
After Nie Huaisang runs off, Jin Guangyao apologizes for their argument and pledges to bring Nie Mingjue the head of Xue Yang in two months. Nie Mingjue agrees, and Jin Guangyao plays his poisoned tune. After overhearing Jin Guangyao fret about his fear of him to Lan Xichen, Nie Mingjue encounters a qi deviation and died during another attempt to kill Jin Guangyao.[19]
Death of Jin Guangshan[]
Aabout a year after his marriage, resigned to the fact that he has committed many atrocities for a father who would never love him, Jin Guangyao elects to kill the ailing Jin Guangshan in a deeply cruel manner.[7]
Jin Guangyao arranges for two-dozen old and disfigured prostitutes to visit his father. Xue Yang ties Jin Guangshan to the bed as Jin Guangyao watches from behind a curtain, ordering the prostitutes not to stop even if Jin Guangshan dies.[20]
Afterwards, all of the prostitutes are killed except Sisi, as Jin Guangyao recognizes her and recalls the kindness she had shown his mother.[21] He keeps her locked away for approximately eleven years, when Nie Huaisang rescues her as part of his plan to expose Jin Guangyao.[15]
Chief Cultivator[]
After Jin Guangshan's death, Jin Guangyao is chosen to become Chief Cultivator. To show that things will be different under his reign, the first thing he did was, allegedly, kill Xue Yang.[16] In actuality, Xue Yang is beaten half-to-death before escaping.[22] Whether Jin Guangyao intended to let his friend escape, or to kill him, is unknown.
As leader of the Lanling Jin Clan, Jin Guangyao has four murals painted along the path to Golden Carp Tower. Although tradition holds that he should denigrate the accomplishments of his late brother, he allows Jin Zixuan's murals to exist alongside his.[5]
watchtowers[]
Although his father had dismissed the idea,[6] Jin Guangyao proposes the watchtowers as a means to save the lives of common people who do not live near cultivation clans. Though some clans initially object, suspecting that he merely wishes to gain more power for the Lanling Jin Clan, Jin Guangyao persists. Ultimately, more than 1,200 watchtowers are built, and the system saves more lives than any previous efforts.[23]
Unfortunately, an unidentified clan leader goes into a murderous rage after losing an argument over the watchtowers. In revenge, he murders Jin Rusong, and Jin Guangyao tears down his clan in revenge.[5] As Jin Guangyao later claimed responsibility for his son's death, it is unknown if he murdered his son and framed his political opponent, or merely felt responsible.[4]
Building the Guanyin Temple[]
Jin Guangyao eventually purchases the land on which his childhood brothel once stood.[5] He builds a temple to Guanyin, with a statue in the likeness of his mother. He buries her coffin inside so that she can receive the worship of thousands and reincarnate into a better life.[24]
Harassment by Mo Xuanyu[]
Mo Xuanyu grows close to his half-brother, and eventually develops romantic feelings for him. In response, Jin Guangyao removes Mo Xuanyu from the Lanling Jin Clan and drives him back to Mo Village.[5]
Discussion Conference at Golden Carp Tower[]
Despite their history, Jin Guangyao greets "Mo Xuanyu" courteously when he attends their discussion conference besides Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen. He prevents Jin Ling from chastising him further, and attempts to mediate with Jiang Cheng for Jin Ling's sake.[5]
Later that evening, Bicao gives Qin Su a letter, informing her of her true relationship with Jin Guangyao. When Jin Guangyao enters their bedroom, he finds his wife on the floor with shock. Although he burns the letter and initially denies the accusations, he eventually admits the truth. He maintains that he had sincerely loved her at first, and that he had not killed Rusong.[5]
Qin Su refuses to tell him who gave her the letter, or even to let him help her as she vomits. Jin Guangyao then seals several of her meridians and takes her into their secret treasure chamber to rest. He continues to beg her to tell him who wrote the letter, and she continues to refuse.[5]
Unbeknownst to the two, Wei Wuxian has entered their room as a paperman, where he fnds the head of Nie Mingjue and the land deed for the Guanyin Temple. Eventually, Jin Guangyao notices his presence and battles the paperman, but Wei Wuxian escapes after using his own sword, Suibian. Shock crosses Jin Guangyao's expression, as he realizes that Mo Xuanyu must actually be Wei Wuxian.[19]
Lan Xichen then accompanies Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji to demand that Jin Guangyao open his treasure chamber where he hides the head of Nie Mingjue. Jin Guangyao acquiesces, as he has already hidden the head and replaced it with the Assassin's Dagger.[19]
As he holds out the dagger, Qin Su snatches it from his hand and kills herself before the clan leaders. Jin Guangyao then unsheathes Hensheng against "Mo Xuanyu." This tricks Wei Wuxian into inadvertently revealing his true identity before everyone, as he again unsheathes Suibian before escaping with Lan Wangji.[19]
Second Siege of the Burial Mounds[]
In the aftermath of the discovery, Jin Guangyao buries Nie Mingjue's head in an iron chest inside the Guanyin Temple.[25] He also receives a letter telling him that all his deeds will be exposed in seven days. He can wait for death, or confess and beg for mercy, neither of which he considers options.[7]
Five days [26][27] after Lan Wangji helps Wei Wuxian escape Golden Carp Tower, Jin Guangyao attempts to visit Lan Xichen in the Cloud Recesses, only to find that his jade token has been revoked. He returns the token and assures Lan Xichen that Lan Wangji will not be thought an accomplice. He then informs his sworn brother that swarms of corpses have begun to move towards the Yiling Burial Mounds, and that the clans are gathering to discuss another potential siege.[27]
Lan Xichen departs to Golden Carp Tower with Jin Guangyao. However, the corpses are actually caused by Jin Guangyao's use of the Yin Tiger Tally, not Wei Wuxian. Furthermore, he orders other cultivators to kidnap many juniors, including Jin Ling, Jin Chan, Lan Sizhui, Lan Jingyi, and Ouyang Zizhen, and place them in the Demon-Quelling Cave as bait.[28]
Jin Guangyao then feigns an assassination attempt, and at some point uses his ruse to seal Lan Xichen's powers. Meanwhile, Su She accompanies the cultivators to the siege and leads his clan in a song that seals everyone's spiritual powers. They are thus nearly defenseless against the onslaught of corpses.[29]
After somehow discovering that everyone has survived, and that Bicao and Sisi have spoken to the recovering cultivators at Lotus Pier, Jin Guangyao allegedly destroys the Yin Tiger Tally and prepares to flee to Dongying.[1]
Confrontation at the Guanyin Temple[]
Jin Guangyao leads a group of disciples from the Lanling Jin Clan to recover his mother's coffin before departing. When Wei Wuxian and Jin Ling arrive, Jin Guangyao takes both hostage alongside Lan Xichen, though he promises to free them unharmed so long as they obey him.[30]
After realizing that Lan Wangji is not with Wei Wuxian, Jin Guangyao remarks how tragic Lan Wangji's unrequited feelings are. At Wei Wuxian's puzzled response, an infuriated Lan Xichen informs Wei Wuxian of Lan Wangji's feelings.[30]
When Lan Wangji arrives, Jin Guangyao holds a guqin string to his throat to force Lan Wangji to seal his powers. However, once Wei Wuxian shouts that he truly wanted to sleep with Lan Wangji, Jin Guangyao lets the string fall.[31]
Su She arrives with Nie Huaisang as another valuable hostage, but he is quickly followed by Jiang Cheng.[31] Jin Guangyao's guqin is rendered useless once Jiang Cheng blocks the song by screeching two swords against each other. Jin Guangyao thus relies on his words, using his knowledge of Jiang Cheng's Golden Core transfer to provoke his distressed opponent into making a mistake. Jiang Cheng is stabbed through the chest and promptly taken hostage.[31]
When Meng Shi's coffin is finally unearthed, her body is not only missing, but a poisonous trap burns many of the monks to death. Jin Guangyao is saved by Su She, though his hand is poisoned and looks as though it had been burned raw. In the chaos, Wei Wuxian unseals the Suppressing Array on the temple, releasing the vengeful spirits of the prostitutes and customers who died in the fire.
Lan Xichen regains his spiritual powers and captures Jin Guangyao. Through Empathy with Anxin, Wei Wuxian then learns that the temple stands on grounds where Jin Guangyao grew up.[17][1]
Lan Xichen interrogates Jin Guangyao about the truth regarding Qin Su and his father, as well as Jin Zixuan's death. When Jin Ling rushes at his uncle, screaming to know why, Jin Guangyao seizes another chance for escape. Using a guqin string he had hidden inside his abdomen, Jin Guangyao takes his nephew hostage.[7]
He is interrupted by the arrival of Nie Mingjue's Fierce Corpse. Jin Guangyao begins to shake in terror, endangering Jin Ling's life, and Lan Wangji responds by cutting off his hand.[7][32]
The now-helpless Jin Guangyao is guarded by Lan Xichen as Su She dies in his attempt to save his friend. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji eventually seal Nie Mingjue in Meng Shi's coffin, and, thinking the night over, Lan Xichen uses a Silence Spell before treating Jin Guangyao's many wounds.[4]
However, when Lan Xichen turns ask Nie Huaisang for the pain pills he had given him, Nie Huaisang feigns terror that Jin Guangyao is about to attack him. Immediately, Lan Xichen mortally wounds Jin Guangyao without a glance behind.[4]
In shock and anger, Jin Guangyao breaks the Silence Spell. He had not actually made any such move, and though he confesses to killing his father, wife, son, brother, teacher, and friend, he insists that he would never hurt Lan Xichen. He accuses Lan Xichen of thinking him unworthy of life, just like Nie Mingjue, before staggering towards the coffin housing Nie Mingjue.[4]
His blood destroys the seal, and as Lan Xichen grabs him, Nie Mingjue's fierce corpse lunges for the both of them. Jin Guangyao uses the last of his strength to push Lan Xichen to safety before Nie Mingjue lifts him by his neck above the coffin.[4]
Jin Guangyao's last words are "Fuck you, Nie Mingjue! You think I'm scared of you?" before Nie Mingjue breaks his neck.[4]
Aftermath[]
Lan Xichen is nearly speechless with grief by the time the rest of the cultivators arrive from Lotus Pier.[24] He goes into seclusion, and in his last appearance in the novel, still seems to be suffering profound grief.[33][34]
The fierce corpses of Jin Guangyao and Nie Mingjue are sealed in their coffin for a hundred years, meaning that they cannot enter the soul cycle for at least that long.[35]
Many terrible rumors spread about Jin Guangyao after his death, in a manner similar to the rumors once spread about Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian notes that Jin Guangyao seems to have replaced him as society's scapegoat.[35]
Animation Divergence[]
In the Animation, Jin Guangyao kills Wen Ruohan to save Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen as they both face off against him.[36]
Web Series Divergence[]
The Jin Guangyao's storyline in Web Series significantly differs from his storyline in the Novel. Meng Yao joins the Qinghe Nie Clan before the Sunshot Campaign, and he meets Lan Xichen during a visit to the Cloud Recesses.[37]
Later, in the Impure Realm, Meng Yao also meets the captured Xue Yang. The two seem to know each other,[38] and Xue Yang is freed during an attack by the Qishan Wen Clan.[39] Meng Yao uses the attack to murder a general who bullied him, though he claims the man had also freed Xue Yang and framed him. Though Nie Mingjue banishes Meng Yao, he spares his life because Meng Yao also saved his life during the attack.[39]
As a spy in Nightless City, Meng Yao kills Wen Ruohan to save Wei Wuxian, rather than Nie Mingjue.[40]
Once accepted by Jin Guangshan, Jin Guangyao takes a significantly darker route than in the novel. His father commands him to slaughter the Wens who surrender,[40] and he is not even allowed to hold Jin Ling after his birth.[41]
Jin Guangyao thus deliberately arranges the death of Jin Zixun, Jin Zixuan and the Bloodbath of Nightless City, with the help of Su She. Instead of Wei Wuxian losing control of his abilities, Jin Guangyao and Su She played the Collection of Turmoil to manipulate Wen Ning and the puppets.
Although he is horrified to discover his true relationship with Qin Su, he proceeds to marry her and father Jin Rusong after learning this fact.[42][43] His plan to murder Nie Mingjue is likewise enacted well before their confrontation on the stairs, and he mocks Nie Mingjue as he dies.[44]
Moreover, Mo Xuanyu is accused of harassing his half-sister Qin Su instead of Jin Guangyao. However, these charges are revealed to be false, as Mo Xuanyu merely wanted to warn Qin Su that Jin Guangyao was her half-brother. During the Sacrificial Ritual, Mo Xuanyu places a fifth cut on his arm, indicating that he wants Wei Wuxian to kill Jin Guangyao along with the Mo family for revenge.[38]
After being mortally wounded, Jin Guangyao asks Lan Xichen to stay and die with him. Once Lan Xichen closes his eyes in acceptance, Jin Guangyao seems to realizes that his brother still cares for him, and pushes him to safety. He is ultimately crushed under the collapsing Guanyin Temple.[45]