The General of the Xianzhou Yaoqing visits the Xianzhou Luofu together with her two retainers during the Luminary Wardance Ceremony Festival to deal with several different issues. While Feixiao deals with her duties, Jiaoqiu and Moze are sent to inspect the imprisoned Hoolay, bane of foxians, to have him moved to the Yaoqing (he's moved every century or so). Jiaoqiu is also interested in taking samples to test out medicines for Feixiao.
Running into March, Yanqing, and Yunli, he talks to them about weaponry and fighting using cooking examples, and later says that even if he's a feeble scholar, he knows a thing or two about killing. The art of healing encompasses both life and death. He shows them a bottle of Tumbledust and explains that it is a very potent poison (foreshadowing), but a drop of it will also numb a patient's body and make surgery painless. The kids find him sinister and despicable, but he retorts that he's just sharing knowledge, not trying to make them poison anyone. In the throes of combat, every idea fades into nothingness, and only staying alive matters. Integrity and treachery are both negligible in this. He then asks for a tour, which is agreed on.
Yanqing takes them to look at the Skysplitter, and Jiaoqiu senses a weird scent again and again when passing some people, but thinks he's mistaken. They all look at the Skysplitter from afar and speak some more. Jiaoqiu briefly reminisces about the people he's healed and sent out to die again. Then he leaves.
Later, he and Moze go to the Shackled Prison to deal with their mission. They meet up with Judge Xueyi and are informed about how to follow the rules. She relays all of Hoolay's crimes to them, but Jiaoqiu says she doesn't have to. All foxians know it, and children are told terrifying stories of him. Xueyi mentions that Hoolay has been chained up for 700 years, and none of them understand how he can have survived for so long. He heals from all injuries.
They're told to take medicine to resist Lupitoxin, and Moze first refuses before being told why. Foxians were cowed by this toxin for a long time, and the pill is for their own mental well-being. As they head deeper into the prison, Jiaoqiu is confused about the smells he picks up again.
Eventually, the borisin attack the prison from within and fight everyone. They let other prisoners out to cause panic and release strange robotic borisin as well. Meanwhile, Xueyi, Moze, and Jiaoqiu reach Hoolay's cell. It's mentioned that the Yaoqing visit Hoolay every century or so to make sure he's safely contained and take samples to find a way to kill him. Jiaoqiu says that if they can make a medicine from him to save at least one innocent, it could balance out some of the sins he's made. He wants to use Hoolay to save Feixiao.
As they prepare to enter, a strange foxian interrupts them. He calls himself Mok Tok and is followed by borisin and disguised Cloud Knights. Xueyi cannot contact backup. Jiaoqiu realizes he really did smell borisin this whole time. He tells Moze to "do his thing", and a battle ensues to keep the borisin away from Hoolay's cell. However, one borisin manages to get through and frees Hoolay. Hoolay 'kills' Xueyi (but she's a robot, so she'll be okay).
Hoolay speaks to Mok Tok and learns about the plan to escape, as well as the Semblance Reversion Essence Pill that makes them take a foxian form. He also learns that the Master of Immortality is behind it all.
Jiaoqiu sends Moze away quickly and is the last one standing. About to be devoured by Hoolay, he is taken as a hostage instead while they escape.
Meanwhile, Moze meets with the other wardens and the Trailblazer to explain the situation to them. He mentions that Jiaoqiu is a hostage, but says there's nothing they can do for him now, and to focus on the prison break. The Trailblazer and Dan Heng do not like that he's treating his friend like that, but Moze insists he's the General's guard and not Jiaoqiu's. Saving him will only get them killed. He then says they should seal off the prison so nobody can escape, themselves included.
At the same time, Jiaoqiu watches wardens die over and over as they move up the prison. Once they reach the gate, he's now useless to Hoolay and about to be killed. "Do something, Jiaoqiu. It's just like the old days, you useless loser."
Hoolay's ally Mok Tok makes him an offer to use his status to help them escape the Luofu (Hoolay laughs at this - make a deal with livestock??), but Jiaoqiu knows he has to try to make the beasts stay. He agrees to the deal and mentions the fact that Hoolay's defeater, Jingliu, has returned to the Luofu as a bargaining chip. Hoolay agrees and tells Jiaoqiu to stay by his side and only move and speak when told to, or he'll be dismembered inch by inch, from his head to his tail. The borisin and Hoolay escape, and thanks to the Semblance Reversion Essence Pill, he can lay low for now.
2.5 Finest Duel Under the Pristine Blue II
The people in charge try to decide what to do about Hoolay and whether to postpone the Wardance, but the alliance would lose a lot if they do. It's decided that they should look for the borisin in secret. Many worry about Jiaoqiu's safety.
Next time we see him, he is discussing his healing techniques and is threatened again and again with being eaten by Mok Tok, while explaining the secret to getting a fussy child to eat green peppers (hide them in meat), all to buy as much time as he can. Meanwhile, Mok Tok has heard that Jingliu has been moved to another ship and says he knows about Jiaoqiu's tracking tricks. "The more hope you hold in your heart, the greater the pain will be when your death comes", Mok Tok says, taunting him about his composure. Hoolay appears and tells him it's because of the medicine Jiaoqiu took.
Hoolay taunts him with the fact that foxian slaves always come back to heel at their masters, and Jiaoqiu snaps back with their defeats in the wake of Feixiao. He manages to weasel more information out of the two borisin, such as who sent them here (the Master of Immortality, Mangas), and reminds them that they're still trapped in the Luofu since the port will be closed. It sows discord between Mok Tok and Hoolay, who decides to test it by letting Jiaoqiu go see for himself if the port is closed. Stunned that he'll be allowed to go, Hoolay says he'll come back, like slaves always do.
Jiaoqiu leaves, but wonders what game this is. He considers talking to the Cloud Knights, but sees that he's surrounded by disguised borisin. It's a test, and for now he has to do what Hoolay said - or anyone he talks to might end up dead. That's the reason: Hoolay proving he's holding lives over Jiaoqiu's head so he can't escape. He also finds out that the ports are not closed like he thought; the escape is being kept secret to avoid panic.
Hoolay demands information about Feixiao and cuts Jiaoqiu's shoulder open with a claw to make him talk. He holds back a scream to avoid drawing in innocent people. Saying he'll tell Hoolay about Feixiao, he wants something in return: to know how Hoolay lived for all these years in the prison. (He wants information for Feixiao's cure.)
Hoolay is amused and tells him about how foxians used to research him at the beginning of the imprisonment to find ways to use his powers to strengthen their people. Then he asks what kind of person Jiaoqiu is - someone who seeks power to destroy their enemies or to become their enemies - but then realizes the healer is the weakest one of them all, the kind who wants power for other people and to do good.
He then tells Jiaoqiu his secret: that his ancestor made a deal and sacrificed countless borisin and foxians in a spring for the Master of Immortality, and the water gave birth to the Lunar Embryo and took what it wanted - the red moon for his heart. Jiaoqiu doesn't believe him, but Hoolay says that every warhead cuts the heart out of their predecessor, meaning he has this divine heart, and that's how he lived.
Now Jiaoqiu is forced to tell everything about Feixiao in return, and at the same time, Moze finds him and spies from afar. Jiaoqiu makes a signal for him not to reveal himself.
There's a flashback to Jiaoqiu’s time in the war and saving Feixiao as he tells him about it, and how he wants to save her. He discovered her borisin bloodline, and Hoolay is amused that she's using it to fight them. He says she'll be pulled apart one day by the moon rage and mentions that Jiaoqiu obviously wants to save her.
Jiaoqiu tells him about his struggles during the war, watching people he healed just go and get killed again and how it broke him. Hoolay says he can smell the desperation down to his bones. But Jiaoqiu says he realized their deaths did hold value in giving foxians strength. Everything he's doing now, following Hoolay, is to watch him die with his own eyes. It will also have value: for a peaceful Wardance and a healed Feixiao. Hoolay says he understands that death has value, and Jiaoqiu seeing so much as a healer means he won't be swayed by death. It gives him a minuscule sense of respect. Jiaoqiu says he doesn't think Hoolay can feel that with his corrupted heart, but Hoolay says it's because he can feel a bit of his kind in Jiaoqiu (possibly making him part borisin as well?). That's why Jiaoqiu is still alive: to show how the borisin truly show respect for enemies... they will eat them.
Their talk is interrupted by the Skysplitter, the ship that will hold the Wardance, setting off. This might expose the borisin ships. Mok Tok and Hoolay argue more, and Hoolay says he's not going to hide but ravage through the Xianzhou. Mok Tok says their packs are not here, but Hoolay says that wherever he is, so is the pack.
He shows Jiaoqiu how his bite turns foxians into borisin and orders his borisin to share his blood to turn foxians. He also calls out Moze, and Jiaoqiu tells him to run. Hoolay says neither of them can, but Moze should tell the General that he's about to unleash a bloodbath on the Luofu.
Meanwhile, the Wardance starts.
Moze is wounded and left by Hoolay, luring Feixiao into being attacked by disguised foxians. After she kills them, Moze tells her about the plan Hoolay has to declare war and that he can turn foxians into borisin. Feixiao believes he will use this as a distraction to get to the Skysplitter and use it to escape with all the people aboard as hostages. She will take care of things on the ground, Yanqing on the Skysplitter and asks Moze and the Trailblazer to search for Jiaoqiu.
They eventually find Mok Tok and demand to know where Hoolay and Jiaoqiu are. He refuses, and they end up fighting. Once he's dead, a hologram of Hoolay appears. After some threats and arguing, Feixiao arrives to speak to him. He taunts her about her bloodline that he learned from Jiaoqiu and wants to meet her on the Skysplitter to fight. She accepts his challenge.
As Hoolay gets ready to attack the Skysplitter, he has no more use for Jiaoqiu. "Secrets are a weapon that a hunter cannot live without, those who have no secrets are no more than prey, cut open and waiting for death." He has taken all of Jiaoqiu's secrets, and now he'll take his life. Jiaoqiu counters that he knows all of Hoolay's secrets too, but Hoolay isn't going to let him live to use them. He's going to drink Jiaoqiu's blood as a tradition before battle.
Jiaoqiu knew this tradition, though, and just like he mentioned with the green peppers, he's swallowed his whole bottle of Tumbledust. When Hoolay drinks his blood, he's unknowingly poisoned as well. Believing this is it for him, Jiaoqiu thinks of Feixiao and hopes the loss of his insignificant life will bring victory to the Yaoqing.
Hoolay goes to attack the Skysplitter, but only Cloud Knights are there thanks to a ploy by General Jing Yuan. After fighting the knights, Yanqing, March and Yunli, he starts feeling the effects of the Tumbledust poison. Thanks to this, he's defeated by Yanqing, but then tries to kill the boy. Feixiao arrives and stops him. As they try to deal with Hoolay and lock him up, he instead rips his heart out to threaten the ship with its power. All foxians go mad when they see it, and Hoolay turns to dust. Feixiao steps up to deal with the heart, consuming it. Going mad for a while and battling her friends, after a long battle inside herself as well, she takes control over it and the crisis is over.
Meanwhile, Moze and the Trailblazer find Jiaoqiu's almost-dead body and take him to the healers.
In the aftermath, Jiaoqiu survives the injuries and the poison but loses his sight. Still, he says that as long as he can hear the waves, he's content. Moze and Feixiao vow to find a way to restore his sight, but currently this is the last time we see Jiaoqiu in-game aside from a brief cameo in a 3.3 trailer.
hsr notes
The General of the Xianzhou Yaoqing visits the Xianzhou Luofu together with her two retainers during the Luminary Wardance Ceremony Festival to deal with several different issues. While Feixiao deals with her duties, Jiaoqiu and Moze are sent to inspect the imprisoned Hoolay, bane of foxians, to have him moved to the Yaoqing (he's moved every century or so). Jiaoqiu is also interested in taking samples to test out medicines for Feixiao.
Running into March, Yanqing, and Yunli, he talks to them about weaponry and fighting using cooking examples, and later says that even if he's a feeble scholar, he knows a thing or two about killing. The art of healing encompasses both life and death. He shows them a bottle of Tumbledust and explains that it is a very potent poison (foreshadowing), but a drop of it will also numb a patient's body and make surgery painless. The kids find him sinister and despicable, but he retorts that he's just sharing knowledge, not trying to make them poison anyone. In the throes of combat, every idea fades into nothingness, and only staying alive matters. Integrity and treachery are both negligible in this. He then asks for a tour, which is agreed on.
Yanqing takes them to look at the Skysplitter, and Jiaoqiu senses a weird scent again and again when passing some people, but thinks he's mistaken. They all look at the Skysplitter from afar and speak some more. Jiaoqiu briefly reminisces about the people he's healed and sent out to die again. Then he leaves.
Later, he and Moze go to the Shackled Prison to deal with their mission. They meet up with Judge Xueyi and are informed about how to follow the rules. She relays all of Hoolay's crimes to them, but Jiaoqiu says she doesn't have to. All foxians know it, and children are told terrifying stories of him. Xueyi mentions that Hoolay has been chained up for 700 years, and none of them understand how he can have survived for so long. He heals from all injuries.
They're told to take medicine to resist Lupitoxin, and Moze first refuses before being told why. Foxians were cowed by this toxin for a long time, and the pill is for their own mental well-being. As they head deeper into the prison, Jiaoqiu is confused about the smells he picks up again.
Eventually, the borisin attack the prison from within and fight everyone. They let other prisoners out to cause panic and release strange robotic borisin as well. Meanwhile, Xueyi, Moze, and Jiaoqiu reach Hoolay's cell. It's mentioned that the Yaoqing visit Hoolay every century or so to make sure he's safely contained and take samples to find a way to kill him. Jiaoqiu says that if they can make a medicine from him to save at least one innocent, it could balance out some of the sins he's made. He wants to use Hoolay to save Feixiao.
As they prepare to enter, a strange foxian interrupts them. He calls himself Mok Tok and is followed by borisin and disguised Cloud Knights. Xueyi cannot contact backup. Jiaoqiu realizes he really did smell borisin this whole time. He tells Moze to "do his thing", and a battle ensues to keep the borisin away from Hoolay's cell. However, one borisin manages to get through and frees Hoolay. Hoolay 'kills' Xueyi (but she's a robot, so she'll be okay).
Hoolay speaks to Mok Tok and learns about the plan to escape, as well as the Semblance Reversion Essence Pill that makes them take a foxian form. He also learns that the Master of Immortality is behind it all.
Jiaoqiu sends Moze away quickly and is the last one standing. About to be devoured by Hoolay, he is taken as a hostage instead while they escape.
Meanwhile, Moze meets with the other wardens and the Trailblazer to explain the situation to them. He mentions that Jiaoqiu is a hostage, but says there's nothing they can do for him now, and to focus on the prison break. The Trailblazer and Dan Heng do not like that he's treating his friend like that, but Moze insists he's the General's guard and not Jiaoqiu's. Saving him will only get them killed. He then says they should seal off the prison so nobody can escape, themselves included.
At the same time, Jiaoqiu watches wardens die over and over as they move up the prison. Once they reach the gate, he's now useless to Hoolay and about to be killed. "Do something, Jiaoqiu. It's just like the old days, you useless loser."
Hoolay's ally Mok Tok makes him an offer to use his status to help them escape the Luofu (Hoolay laughs at this - make a deal with livestock??), but Jiaoqiu knows he has to try to make the beasts stay. He agrees to the deal and mentions the fact that Hoolay's defeater, Jingliu, has returned to the Luofu as a bargaining chip. Hoolay agrees and tells Jiaoqiu to stay by his side and only move and speak when told to, or he'll be dismembered inch by inch, from his head to his tail. The borisin and Hoolay escape, and thanks to the Semblance Reversion Essence Pill, he can lay low for now.
2.5 Finest Duel Under the Pristine Blue II
The people in charge try to decide what to do about Hoolay and whether to postpone the Wardance, but the alliance would lose a lot if they do. It's decided that they should look for the borisin in secret. Many worry about Jiaoqiu's safety.
Next time we see him, he is discussing his healing techniques and is threatened again and again with being eaten by Mok Tok, while explaining the secret to getting a fussy child to eat green peppers (hide them in meat), all to buy as much time as he can. Meanwhile, Mok Tok has heard that Jingliu has been moved to another ship and says he knows about Jiaoqiu's tracking tricks. "The more hope you hold in your heart, the greater the pain will be when your death comes", Mok Tok says, taunting him about his composure. Hoolay appears and tells him it's because of the medicine Jiaoqiu took.
Hoolay taunts him with the fact that foxian slaves always come back to heel at their masters, and Jiaoqiu snaps back with their defeats in the wake of Feixiao. He manages to weasel more information out of the two borisin, such as who sent them here (the Master of Immortality, Mangas), and reminds them that they're still trapped in the Luofu since the port will be closed. It sows discord between Mok Tok and Hoolay, who decides to test it by letting Jiaoqiu go see for himself if the port is closed. Stunned that he'll be allowed to go, Hoolay says he'll come back, like slaves always do.
Jiaoqiu leaves, but wonders what game this is. He considers talking to the Cloud Knights, but sees that he's surrounded by disguised borisin. It's a test, and for now he has to do what Hoolay said - or anyone he talks to might end up dead. That's the reason: Hoolay proving he's holding lives over Jiaoqiu's head so he can't escape. He also finds out that the ports are not closed like he thought; the escape is being kept secret to avoid panic.
Hoolay demands information about Feixiao and cuts Jiaoqiu's shoulder open with a claw to make him talk. He holds back a scream to avoid drawing in innocent people. Saying he'll tell Hoolay about Feixiao, he wants something in return: to know how Hoolay lived for all these years in the prison. (He wants information for Feixiao's cure.)
Hoolay is amused and tells him about how foxians used to research him at the beginning of the imprisonment to find ways to use his powers to strengthen their people. Then he asks what kind of person Jiaoqiu is - someone who seeks power to destroy their enemies or to become their enemies - but then realizes the healer is the weakest one of them all, the kind who wants power for other people and to do good.
He then tells Jiaoqiu his secret: that his ancestor made a deal and sacrificed countless borisin and foxians in a spring for the Master of Immortality, and the water gave birth to the Lunar Embryo and took what it wanted - the red moon for his heart. Jiaoqiu doesn't believe him, but Hoolay says that every warhead cuts the heart out of their predecessor, meaning he has this divine heart, and that's how he lived.
Now Jiaoqiu is forced to tell everything about Feixiao in return, and at the same time, Moze finds him and spies from afar. Jiaoqiu makes a signal for him not to reveal himself.
There's a flashback to Jiaoqiu’s time in the war and saving Feixiao as he tells him about it, and how he wants to save her. He discovered her borisin bloodline, and Hoolay is amused that she's using it to fight them. He says she'll be pulled apart one day by the moon rage and mentions that Jiaoqiu obviously wants to save her.
Jiaoqiu tells him about his struggles during the war, watching people he healed just go and get killed again and how it broke him. Hoolay says he can smell the desperation down to his bones. But Jiaoqiu says he realized their deaths did hold value in giving foxians strength. Everything he's doing now, following Hoolay, is to watch him die with his own eyes. It will also have value: for a peaceful Wardance and a healed Feixiao. Hoolay says he understands that death has value, and Jiaoqiu seeing so much as a healer means he won't be swayed by death. It gives him a minuscule sense of respect. Jiaoqiu says he doesn't think Hoolay can feel that with his corrupted heart, but Hoolay says it's because he can feel a bit of his kind in Jiaoqiu (possibly making him part borisin as well?). That's why Jiaoqiu is still alive: to show how the borisin truly show respect for enemies... they will eat them.
Their talk is interrupted by the Skysplitter, the ship that will hold the Wardance, setting off. This might expose the borisin ships. Mok Tok and Hoolay argue more, and Hoolay says he's not going to hide but ravage through the Xianzhou. Mok Tok says their packs are not here, but Hoolay says that wherever he is, so is the pack.
He shows Jiaoqiu how his bite turns foxians into borisin and orders his borisin to share his blood to turn foxians. He also calls out Moze, and Jiaoqiu tells him to run. Hoolay says neither of them can, but Moze should tell the General that he's about to unleash a bloodbath on the Luofu.
Meanwhile, the Wardance starts.
Moze is wounded and left by Hoolay, luring Feixiao into being attacked by disguised foxians. After she kills them, Moze tells her about the plan Hoolay has to declare war and that he can turn foxians into borisin. Feixiao believes he will use this as a distraction to get to the Skysplitter and use it to escape with all the people aboard as hostages. She will take care of things on the ground, Yanqing on the Skysplitter and asks Moze and the Trailblazer to search for Jiaoqiu.
They eventually find Mok Tok and demand to know where Hoolay and Jiaoqiu are. He refuses, and they end up fighting. Once he's dead, a hologram of Hoolay appears. After some threats and arguing, Feixiao arrives to speak to him. He taunts her about her bloodline that he learned from Jiaoqiu and wants to meet her on the Skysplitter to fight. She accepts his challenge.
As Hoolay gets ready to attack the Skysplitter, he has no more use for Jiaoqiu. "Secrets are a weapon that a hunter cannot live without, those who have no secrets are no more than prey, cut open and waiting for death." He has taken all of Jiaoqiu's secrets, and now he'll take his life. Jiaoqiu counters that he knows all of Hoolay's secrets too, but Hoolay isn't going to let him live to use them. He's going to drink Jiaoqiu's blood as a tradition before battle.
Jiaoqiu knew this tradition, though, and just like he mentioned with the green peppers, he's swallowed his whole bottle of Tumbledust. When Hoolay drinks his blood, he's unknowingly poisoned as well. Believing this is it for him, Jiaoqiu thinks of Feixiao and hopes the loss of his insignificant life will bring victory to the Yaoqing.
Hoolay goes to attack the Skysplitter, but only Cloud Knights are there thanks to a ploy by General Jing Yuan. After fighting the knights, Yanqing, March and Yunli, he starts feeling the effects of the Tumbledust poison. Thanks to this, he's defeated by Yanqing, but then tries to kill the boy. Feixiao arrives and stops him. As they try to deal with Hoolay and lock him up, he instead rips his heart out to threaten the ship with its power. All foxians go mad when they see it, and Hoolay turns to dust. Feixiao steps up to deal with the heart, consuming it. Going mad for a while and battling her friends, after a long battle inside herself as well, she takes control over it and the crisis is over.
Meanwhile, Moze and the Trailblazer find Jiaoqiu's almost-dead body and take him to the healers.
In the aftermath, Jiaoqiu survives the injuries and the poison but loses his sight. Still, he says that as long as he can hear the waves, he's content. Moze and Feixiao vow to find a way to restore his sight, but currently this is the last time we see Jiaoqiu in-game aside from a brief cameo in a 3.3 trailer.