Geng Zhengchong
"In the surprise attack at Yellow Dragon Spring the day before yesterday, he was struck from behind by a Soul-Stealing traitor of the Golden Crow faction. He held on for two days, but in the end he couldn't pull through, and passed away this afternoon. He was the one who insisted on standing with Sect Leader Wei, so I will carry his name and live on."
A Disciple of the Kongtong Sect's Soul-Stealing Gate, nicknamed "Shadow-Seaming Needle". His original name was Geng Zheng; because his younger brother "Chong" was struck from behind and killed by a Soul-Stealing Gate traitor in the surprise attack at Yellow Dragon Spring, he added his brother's name after his own and called himself Geng Zhengchong.
During the Kongtong succession struggle in May Year 3, Zhao Huo accompanies back to Nangou Market at the foot of the mountain, where villagers bought off by Venerable Golden Crow spread false news and set an ambush to delay them. Geng Zhengchong, on 's orders, steps forward to expose the villagers. He reports that the Golden Crow faction has torn up the Four Gates Pact and taken three places in a row—the Incense-Planting Terrace, the Needle-Grinding Temple, and Wild Fox Bridge—and that the Soul-Stealing Gate has suffered grievous losses, and begs Danxiazi to hurry up the mountain and take charge. When he sees Danxiazi take out the "Heaven-Questioning Talisman" to divine, he blurts out in agitation that no immortal will look after them and that survival depends on saving themselves. After driving off the ambushers, he joins the "Wind and Fire Volunteers" together with Hu Yiqian, Liang, and Huang Peihua, leads twelve men of the Gale Squad as scouts and night raiders, and sends six men ahead up the mountain to carry word to Sect Leader Wei. While bickering with Hu Yiqian, he explains why he changed his name and where Hu Yiqian's nickname "Thousand Blades" comes from. When Danxiazi invites Zhao Huo to discuss the battle, he at first objects on the grounds that Zhao Huo is an outsider, and only drops it after Hu Yiqian rebuts him.
Other Appearances
The following scenes use the same portrait, but no name is given in the story, so it cannot be confirmed whether it is Geng Zhengchong himself.
Early in the Kongtong Sect Study Abroad, if Zhao Huo draws the Soul-Stealing Gate, he arranges for Zhao Huo to stay in the Mengzhang Room on the east side of the guest house, warns him to watch for thieves when going down to Colorless Square, and tells him not to go near the Flying Heaven Gate without cause, lest he invite suspicion and insult. In Great Ironworks Burglarized, if Zhao Huo catches the fugitive in the middle, he and his Senior Brother arrive to haul the man back; in the ensuing Soul-Quelling Prison Detention, if Zhao Huo is abducted by the masked man, once he learns it was Senior Sister Xiaomei's doing he reckons it conveniently rids them of a hot potato without harming the gate's reputation, while if Zhao Huo stays in the cell, he serves as the jailer who fetches him, scolds the unreasonable Wang Laowu when comes to bail Zhao Huo out, and sighs that the Soul-Stealing Gate has more and more oddballs.
During the Kongtong succession struggle, he also serves as a scout, reporting to Sect Leader Wei on the battle at Taihe Palace, on Venerable Golden Crow slipping away toward Banyu Terrace only to be stopped by the General of Dao Techniques, and on the south gate being sealed off by a large band of black-clad Thousand Lantern Tower assassins intent on sitting back and reaping the spoils.