Jiu

Despite taking the form of a young girl, Jiu seems to be much older than she appears — she speaks about humans as if she isn't one of them and mentions events that happened thousands of years in the past. She also describes Morax as an usurper, yearning for the resurrection of the ancient being trapped underneath the Dragon-Queller.

In her dialogue, Jiu talks about an ancient being that has been trapped under the tree by the adepti thousands of years ago and tells the player that its resurrection is coming soon. A nearby stone tablet indicates that the being is the "evil dragon" Azhdaha, who was suppressed and trapped in the tree by the adepti to preserve lives in the world. However, this being is slowly consuming the tree and becoming one with it, giving a section of the tree blue veins and ghostly blue branches. When the dragon emerges, it will entirely consume the tree and absorb the energy of all the ley lines of the world.

During the events of No Mere Stone, Jiu lures away a mining team to excavate the area underneath the Dragon-Queller. Zhongli, the Traveler, and a man named Kun Jun catch her trail while investigating the team's disappearance and follow her into the domain underneath the Dragon-Queller, where it is revealed that she is in fact a mortal vessel representing Azhdaha's wrath and desire for revenge towards Morax and humanity.

To hasten the destruction of the seals binding him, Azhdaha created Jiu so that she could work on breaking the seals from outside while his main body broke them from within. Doing this, however, also allowed a fragment of his conscience that still retained his memories and goodwill towards humanity to escape in order to warn Morax of the danger. This fragment went on to possess Kun Jun's body, but because of a lack of power, he was unable to remember his purpose — only that he had to seek out a legendary ore called Dragonfall. The fragment of Azhdaha possessing Kun Jun remembered everything during the battle against the dragon's main body and assists the party in the event that a character is knocked out.

After Azhdaha's main body is subdued for a second time, Kun Jun confronts Jiu and reveals the truth about themselves: how Morax had granted Azhdaha the ability to see and live aboveground, and the two became close friends before "erosion" wore away at Azhdaha's memories and sanity, forcing Morax and the adepti to seal him away. In his last act of clarity, Azhdaha realized what was happening and allowed himself to be sealed away, but erosion made him forget that part as well, causing him to believe Morax betrayed him. As the energy used to sustain Jiu wore out, she faded away with Morax's name on her lips.