In Yanqing’s Companion Quest, Frosty Blade’s Trial, we not only get to try him in action, but we have a special guest appearance, a mysterious woman with her vision purposely obscured, named Jingliu. From seemingly nowhere, she appeared with combat experience that far exceeded anything that the young retained could have expected.
Who is Jingliu in Honkai: Star Rail – Answered
Although her first appearance in the game may have been with Yanqing, she actually debuted well before this. Leading up to Jing Yuan’s banner, there was an animated short called “The Flash” that was released on Honkai: Star Rail’s official YouTube. In it, we get to see a young Jing Yuan training with their master, and the woman who presides over him is none other than the same Jingliu that we come across in Yanqing’s companion quest.
It turns out that Jingliu is General Jing Yuan’s own master, who was defeated by him in the Honkai: Star Rail animated shorts due to her succumbing to the mara. In Yanqing’s companion quest, we even see rise to a sort of mania, when her return to combat once again stirs the feelings of mara inside her. But why is it she appears to be sane the majority of the quest, and even retains her own form? Jingliu has quite the interesting lore based on the mara waxing and waning through her like the moon. Her clarity reflects the many depictions of the moon in appearance. Even her kit indicates that we’ll be seeing multiple sides, and different actions depending on her state. Very similar to another character we know, and the one that Jingliu was originally after.
Jing Yuan isn’t the only character that Jingliu trained. As part of what is known as the High Cloud Quintet, Jingliu was the guiding force of five incredibly strong warriors: Jing Yuan, Imbibitor Lunae, Blade, and another Foxian female that is still unknown. Based on Yanqing’s companion quest, we learn that Jingliu didn’t just come to the Xianzhou for the novelty, but rather to pursue Blade as she learned of his capture.
We’ve yet to discover Jingliu’s intentions surrounding finding Blade other than defeating him as they are quite similar in being marastruck, and yet somehow retained their form, as well as both having moments of clarity. Blade has also spoken about two of the five people that have wronged him, one of which Trailblazers know to be Dan Heng, but the other is still up to speculation. Perhaps there is still unresolved conflict between these two.
Related: Honkai: Star Rail’s Awful Material Drop Rates Are Getting Out of Hand
What to Expect of Jingliu’s Battle Skills and Kit
Luckily, there is no need to worry. Jingliu will indeed be a character that is available to play later down the line. She will be an Ice Destruction character, and is very much a Five-Star, so you can expect to see her running in the big leagues alongside future limited-time banners. Her kit revolves around her peculiar marastruck nature where she will have her AOE Skill and Burst, but also have the ability to enter into a different state called Transcendence that will enhance her attacks and Skill.
Jingliu will likely run in 1.4 alongside other projected characters, such as a Five-Star called Topaz, and Trailblazers may just see the return of Xueyi. But not within the story only to play second fiddle, but rather available as a Four-Star character to play. To learn more about her character, be sure to check out this story we covered detailing more about Xueyi.
