Qiao Feng

Qiao Feng, originally named Xiao Feng, is a central character in Jin Yong's wuxia novel Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils. His life is a tragedy often compared to that of the Greek hero Oedipus.

His father, Xiao Yuanshan, was a Khitan martial artist from the same clan as Empress Xiao of the Liao Empire. As an infant, Qiao Feng traveled with his parents into the rival Song Empire. At Yanmen Pass, masked attackers ambushed them, killing his mother. His father, gravely wounded, carved a Khitan message on a rock before leaping off a cliff with his family. Regretting his choice mid-fall, he tossed the baby upward before apparently dying. The surviving attackers caught the infant, spared him, and gave him to Han Chinese peasants, Qiao Sanhuai and his wife, who raised him as Qiao Feng.

As a child, Qiao Feng learned martial arts from the Shaolin monk Xuanku. He later joined the Beggars' Gang, completing many missions—including defending the Song border from Liao forces—and eventually became its chief after Wang Jiantong's death. By the novel's events, around age 30, he is considered the wulin's strongest fighter, famed for his "Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms."

His downfall begins when his Khitan ancestry is revealed at a Beggars' Gang meeting in Apricot Forest near Wuxi; he had never known his true parentage. He is also suspected of murdering deputy chief Ma Dayuan, who held a sealed letter about Qiao Feng's background. Four senior elders, who had earlier learned of his ancestry, tried to oust him out of fear he might betray them, but Qiao Feng pardoned them for past service. Realizing the gang will never trust him, he leaves voluntarily to investigate his origins.

Meanwhile, the Qiao couple and Xuanku are murdered by an unknown attacker. Blame falls on Qiao Feng, now seen as a murderer and threat. He meets Azhu, a Murong family servant disguised as a monk to steal the Yijin Jing from Shaolin. After she is critically wounded, he risks bringing her to Heroes Gathering Manor for physician Xue Muhua's help, despite knowing the manor's owners are hosting a wulin meeting to discuss him. There, outnumbered, he severs ties with the wulin and fights a one-against-many battle, killing old friends and acquaintances while suffering severe injuries. A masked fighter in black saves him, takes him to recover, and then leaves.

After healing, Qiao Feng goes to Yanmen Pass to continue his quest and reunites with Azhu. They fall in love, and he accepts his Khitan identity after seeing a wolf tattoo on a Khitan man's chest matching his own. He adopts the name Xiao Feng and seeks vengeance on "Leading Big Brother," who led the ambush on his parents. As he searches for those who know this person's identity, they are either murdered or commit suicide. Only Kang Min, Ma Dayuan's widow, knows the truth. Azhu disguises herself as elder Bai Shijing to trick Kang Min. However, Kang Min, having a secret affair with Bai Shijing, sees through the disguise when Azhu fails personal questions. Kang Min falsely tells Azhu that "Leading Big Brother" is Duan Zhengchun.

Xiao Feng finds Duan Zhengchun and hesitates to take revenge after seeing Duan risk his life for bodyguards. He asks Duan if he did "something wrong many years ago that led to a child growing up without knowing who his/her parents were." Duan, mistaking the reference to his philandering and illegitimate children, admits regret. Xiao Feng challenges him to a duel. Meanwhile, Azhu discovers she is one of Duan's illegitimate children and sacrifices herself by disguising as Duan for the duel. Xiao Feng mortally wounds her, thinking she is Duan. She dies in his arms, revealing her true identity and asking him to care for her younger sister, Azi. Xiao Feng later realizes his mistake when Duan's handwriting does not match "Leading Big Brother's." He tries to question Kang Min, but Azi has disfigured her face, and she dies.