aka: The Divine-Faced-Hero, Master of the Sleeping Sword
F E N G Y A O S H I
legendary hero, swordsman, and hedonist
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Ht: 6' / Wt: 165 / Hair: black / Eyes: brown / Age: 39
Creed: Zhujin / Clan: Three Blossom Society / Status: *DECEASED
Creed: Zhujin / Clan: Three Blossom Society / Status: *DECEASED
The man was unusually tall for an Eastlander and strikingly handsome; his features were symmetrical, smooth, and refined like an idealized scroll painting, but with a chiseled jaw and masculine furrow in his brow. His black hair was long, flowing loose about his shoulders, and his dusky yellow robes hung open at the chest, exposing a toned, coppery muscularity. The swordsman reclined lazily on the steps of the small pavillion, with a sly smirk across his face and a cup of wine raised in one hand.
Divine-Faced-Hero Feng Yaoshi is one of the most renowned swordsmen in the three kingdoms of Tianxia. A wandering Xia affiliated with the Three Blossom Society, he is the scion of the Feng family (famous for their Spiral Sword technique) and a cousin to the Master of Wujin Manor. His many martial exploits include his famous battle at Black Cliff Bridge against The Laughing Mountain, defeating the Green Spider Sect with his sworn brother Crystal Fist Liu, and his recent duel with the fearsome Oyashima sword master, Amayakeda the Leaf-Cutter.
Feng Yaoshi is considered one of the great prodigies of his age, equally gifted at the martial and scholarly arts. He can play the lute, is knowledgeable in poetry and philosophy, and speaks many languages fluently. He is adept with many unarmed styles, but is best known for his talent with the jian (straight sword). His Chi projection techniques are superb, and it is said that few challengers have ever gotten within 15 paces of Feng.
Feng was entrusted with the Fate-Changing Sword, an ancient weapon of terrible power. Long ago, the Fate-Changing Sword was sealed into its scabbard, where its energies remained dormant. Feng was taught the Sleeping Saint Stance by the reclusive heretic Heartless Xiaolang of Cicada Island, which allowed him to access the power of the Fate-Changing Sword (now called the Sleeping Sword).
Although Feng is first and foremost a wanderer, he is highly respected in the Wulin, and often takes a hand in the affairs of the Three Blossom Society on behalf of Master Wujin.
Feng Yaoshi is a bon-vivant who prefers a frivolous libertine existence to one of courtly obligation. In spite of his prodigious skills and esteemed reputation, he retains a weakness for gambling, women, and wine. Free with his money and his company, he displays a casual generosity born of privilege. He is handsome, charming, and chivalrous, but can also be supercilious and vain. He is slow to anger, but capricious in his actions, rarely taking consequences borne by others seriously.
After the death of Master Wujin and theft of the first two Three Blossom Scrolls, Abbot Chai of the Fragrant Island Monastery had the Third Scroll secretly taken to Duatha for safekeeping. Feng was sent to meet with the Abbot's monks in Ladroa, but found them murdered instead. Knowing that the Third Scroll was still hidden with Lightning Leg Pho at the Silver Gate tavern in Ascenzia, Feng chose to remain in Ladroa, waiting to see who would come for him next.
After dallying for some time at the Butterfly Garden brothel, Feng finally had the Scroll delivered to him by the monk Broad Mantis Kuan. Immediately after the Scroll changed hands, Feng was ambushed by a cadre of assassins. Momentarily distracted, he left himself open, and an unseen assailant fatally wounded him with the Saint's Palm, a master technique stolen from the First Scroll.
Feng dispatched most of the assassins with his fearsome Nine-Ring Radiating Sword Wave, and forced their leader to flee. Unfortunately, it was too late. Feng's dissolute lifestyle left him especially vulnerable to the blood poisoning effect of the Saint's Palm. The true identity of his murderer remains a mystery, but it must have been a fighter of enormous skill.
His last act before dying was to command monk Kuan to kneel and serve him tea (a ritual gesture between master and student) and name Kuan his student. He demonstrated the Five principal stances of the Sleeping Saint style for Kuan, passed the Sleeping Sword to his care, and granted him permission to study the Huan scroll - most particularly the technique for defending against the Saint's Palm. Charging Kuan with avenging him and the Three Blossoms, Feng then died.
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