Wei Wuxian is the protagonist of the series, born as the only son of Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze. He was a former disciple of the Jiang Clan of Yunmeng and later created the Demonic Path, thus earning him the title of Yiling Patriarch. His weapons included the sword Suibian, the flute Chenqing, and various weapons crafted using Demonic power.
After the death of his parents during a Night Hunt, he was brought to Lotus Pier by Jiang Fengmian and joined the Jiang Clan of Yunmeng. He is an intelligent, bright, optimistic, mischievous but good-hearted cultivator, whose intelligence and strength lie more in his ability to invent new spiritual techniques and inventions not defined by conventional cultivation methods.
Growing up in Lotus Pier, Wuxian was raised like a son to Jiang Fengmian and a brother to Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli.
Despite showing little to no affection to him, Yu Ziyuan proved to be protective of him when Lotus Pier was under siege. He met Lan Wangji while he traveled to Gusu to study under the Lan Clan of Gusu at Cloud Recesses. During his studies there, he broke multiple rules of Cloud Recesses and was punished to copy down the 3000 rules with Lan Wangji supervising. He was later kicked out of Cloud Recesses after punching Jin Zixuan when he overheard him talking about Jiang Yanli disrespectfully. He returned to Yunmeng to continue his training.
Shortly after the Siege of Lotus Pier, after rescuing Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian realized his Golden Core was destroyed by Wen Zhuliu during his capture. He sacrificed his own Golden Core so Jiang Cheng can continue his cultivation but was captured by Wen Chao shortly after the sacrifice. During his weak stage, he was thrown into the Burial Mounds where he created the Demonic Path within three months. After losing his golden core, he was unable to wield Suibian and resorted to using Chenqing to control corpses under the Demonic Path. No one apart from Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng has been able to unsheathe Suibian. During the Sunshot Campaign, he returned as a practitioner of Demonic Path. Although he was able to turn the tides and ended the campaign with the defeat of the Wen Clan, his methods were frowned upon due to its unorthodox nature. After the events of Qiongqi Path, he took in the Wen Clan branch which Wen Ning and Wen Qing belonged to, as well as revived Wen Ning back as a living corpse. The Jin Clan, which was quickly rising to power after the demise of the Wen Clan, started exerting pressure on the Jiang Clan with the other clans. As a result, his childhood friend Jiang Cheng, the new leader of the Jiang Clan was under pressure. Wei Wuxian chose to leave the Jiang Clan of Yunmeng shortly to preserve the clan's name and pretended to cut ties with Jiang Cheng. He set up base in the Burial Mounds as the Yiling Patriarch, where he provided sanctuary for the Wen Clan survivors prior to the First Siege of the Burial Mounds. He died in the First Siege of the Burial Mounds, which is thirteen years prior to the start of the story. He was then summoned into the body of Mo Xuanyu through a sacrificial ritual. He travels with Lan Wangji to discover the identity of the person a left arm belonged to, and falls in love with him along the way.
Wei Wuxian is terribly afraid of dogs. This is due to his traumatic experience on the streets shortly after his parents passed away and before he was taken in by Jiang Fengmian. He also has a liking for alcohol, specifically the Emperor's Smile of Gusu, and spicy food.
