Zhao Min

Zhao Min is the daughter of Chaghan Temür, a Mongol prince of the Yuan dynasty. Her elder brother is Köke Temür. As a child, Zhao Min was ambitious and full of vigour, eager to take on duties that are traditionally done by men. Her father was appointed by the emperor to eradicate the rebel organisation Ming Cult and bring order to the wulin (martial artists' community). Zhao Min helps her father with her wit and intelligence.

Zhao Min makes her first appearance in the novel by using the Ten Fragrances Tendon Weakening Powder (十香軟筋散) to poison several martial artists from the six major orthodox sects in the wulin, including the "Seven Heroes of Wudang" and Abbess Miejue of the Emei Sect. They are captured and imprisoned in Wan'an Monastery. As the six sects have recently come to a truce with the Ming Cult, Zhao Min intends to lure Zhang Wuji, the new leader of the cult, into a trap and capture him too. Zhang Wuji travels to Green Willow Mountain Manor to meet Zhao Min, without knowing her true identity. When Zhao Min attempts to poison Zhang Wuji with the powder, he sees through her plans and tries stops her. She traps him in an underground chamber, but he bring her down with him. Eventually she lets him out.

Zhao Min also improves her martial arts prowess by tricking the captured martial artists into displaying their skills, lying that she will set them free if they can defeat her men, while secretly noting down their movements and learning them. Despite standing on opposing grounds with Zhang Wuji, she gradually falls in love with her rival and asks him to let her to follow him on his adventures, as part of her three conditions in freeing the captured martial artists. On Divine Serpent Island, Zhao Min is wrongly accused by Zhang of murdering Yin Li, and robbing him of the Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber. Actually, the one responsible is Zhou Zhiruo, who has stolen the secret from the weapons and framed Zhao Min for it. When Zhang Wuji encounters Zhao Min later, he wants to kill her but refrains from doing so, because he has fallen in love with her.

As the story progresses, the romantic relationship between Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min deepens, even though they are entangled in a love triangle with Zhou Zhiruo. When Zhang Wuji decides to marry Zhou Zhiruo, Zhao Min appears and disrupts the wedding, stating that her second condition (when she agreed to free the captured martial artists) is that he cannot marry Zhou Zhiruo. Zhang Wuji rejects the request initially, but accepts later when Zhao Min tells him that she knows the whereabouts of his godfather, Xie Xun. Zhou Zhiruo hates Zhao Min and attacks her with the 'Nine Yin White Bone Claw' but Zhang Wuji saves Zhao Min.

By the end of the novel, Zhang Wuji realises Zhao Min is his true love and he tells Zhou Zhiruo. The couple decides to retire from the jianghu for a reclusive life after Zhang mistakenly believes that his subordinates are planning to kill him to seize power. In the last chapter, Zhao Min tells Zhang Wuji that her third condition is for him to help her paint her eyebrows.

• (in Chinese) Tan, Xianmao (2005). Zhao Min: Love Produces a Surprising Change. In Rankings of Jin Yong's Characters. Chinese Agricultural Press.