Wu Mianfeng (simplified: 武眠风, traditional: 武眠風, pinyin: Wǔ Miánfēng), renamed Wu Gangfeng (武罡风) in Jin Yong’s revised texts, was the fifth of Huang Yaoshi’s “wind” disciples on Peach Blossom Island. Although she never appears directly in The Legend of the Condor Heroes, the few surviving records present her as the youngest of the island master’s original pupils and a victim of the catastrophe that followed the theft of the Nine Yin Manual.
Biography
Life on Peach Blossom Island
Huang Yaoshi deliberately gave his disciples names ending with the character “风” (“wind”) to symbolise their place within his personal lineage; Wu Mianfeng stood alongside Qu Lingfeng, Chen Xuanfeng, Mei Chaofeng, Lu Chengfeng, and Feng Mofeng within this inner circle. Later sources note that she was the last of the six to be accepted, emphasising how rapidly Huang Yaoshi’s school expanded before tragedy struck.40:84:docs/fetched-data/ROCH_20251103_160507/人物/黄药师_20251103_135303.json``271:274:docs/fetched-data/ROCH_20251103_160507/人物/冯默风_20251103_131350.json
Punished after the Nine Yin theft
When Chen Xuanfeng and Mei Chaofeng fled Peach Blossom Island with the transcribed second volume of the Nine Yin Manual, Huang Yaoshi vented his grief upon the disciples who had remained loyal. Wu Mianfeng, along with Qu Lingfeng and Lu Chengfeng, had her leg tendons severed and was cast off the island before she ever had the chance to prove her innocence.40:83:docs/fetched-data/ROCH_20251103_160507/人物/黄药师_20251103_135303.json``272:272:docs/fetched-data/ROCH_20251103_160507/人物/冯默风_20251103_131350.json
Death and absence
By the time Huang Yaoshi reconsidered his judgement during the events of The Legend of the Condor Heroes, Wu Mianfeng had already died from the injuries and hardship she suffered after expulsion. The island master could only acknowledge her fate indirectly when he told Lu Chengfeng that both Qu Lingfeng and Wu Gangfeng were beyond recall, a belated expression of regret that underscores how completely she vanished from the jianghu record.83:84:docs/fetched-data/ROCH_20251103_160507/人物/黄药师_20251103_135303.json
Personality and traits
Although no direct dialogue survives, the surviving notes portray Wu Mianfeng as dutiful and soft-spoken—the sort of disciple whose loyalty was unquestioned until the moment her master lashed out in grief. Being the newest and youngest of the “wind” disciples, she lacked the reputation of her seniors, which made her disappearance that much easier for the wider jianghu to overlook.271:274:docs/fetched-data/ROCH_20251103_160507/人物/冯默风_20251103_131350.json
Martial arts
Wu Mianfeng was trained in Peach Blossom Island martial arts, including the island’s internal cultivation methods, formation lore, and the scholarly skills Huang Yaoshi demanded from every disciple. Her mastery of the Peach Blossom arrays was sufficient for her to be entrusted with the island’s defences before the Nine Yin incident, indicating considerable technical aptitude even if she never appeared on the battlefield.40:52:docs/fetched-data/ROCH_20251103_160507/人物/黄药师_20251103_135303.json
Legacy
Later editions of Jin Yong’s novels changed her name to Wu Gangfeng, likely to emphasise her connection to the “罡” (astral) winds that underpin Huang Yaoshi’s formation theory. Modern scholars cite her fate as one of the most tragic consequences of the Nine Yin theft: a loyal disciple erased from the story except for the remorse her master expressed years after the fact.40:84:docs/fetched-data/ROCH_20251103_160507/人物/黄药师_20251103_135303.json