Wu Ao-Shi

Origin

Wu Ao-Shi was an unruly child of the streets of K'un-Lun. Lei Kung the Thunderer discovered her being beaten by a shop owner for stealing and witnessed her retaliation on the shop owner that felled the much larger man with a broken nose. For reasons the Thunderer never shared with anyone, he saved Wu Ao-Shi from punishment and enrolled her in his martial arts school. She became one of those in competition for the right to face Shou-Lao the Undying. This was a new role in life that she embraced, but it was not her only calling. She also fell in love with simple fisherman.

Surprisingly, she was selected as the champion to face Shou-Lao. This made her the first woman ever to do so. Many in K'un-Lun came to watch her challenge. Some came just to witness the possible rise of a new Iron Fist. Others came to hopefully see Wu Ao-Shi get eaten by the dragon. Not only did she defeat Shou-Lao, she did so faster than any challenger had done before her. She became the Immortal Iron Fist. She assured her fisherman lover that becoming an Immortal Weapon meant nothing for them, even blessing the rings they shared with some of her chi so that they would glow whenever near. Sadly, the fisherman knew better and that he could not live with her risking her life so regularly. He left during the night when K'un-Lun became anchored to Earth.

When Wu Ao-Shi realized this, she chose to leave K'un-Lun too. It was allowed for anyone to leave if they wished, but Yu-Ti still demanded an explanation. He wanted her to tell him that she was choosing her love over her duty. There was no such distinction for her, and she left, leaving behind a disgusted Yu-Ti. Unfortunately, those who leave K'un-Lun do not all arrive at the same destination, and she exited someplace far from her lover's destination.

Creation

Wu Ao-Shi was created by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction and David Aja and first appeared in The Immortal Iron Fist issue 2 (2006).

Mayor Story Arcs

Survive

Surviving in the outside world was quite a different experience, and Wu Ao-Shi had to find new ways to do. Eating required money, so she needed means of getting money. The one thing she was skilled at was violence. Fortunately, that was a skill people were willing to pay her for. She became essentially a hero for hire, beating up those she was hired to. This new life consumed her, and she no longer seemed to spend much effort searching for her lost love.

News reached her that a place called Pinghai Bay had been overrun and taken by a pirate king. This sounded to Wu Ao-Shi like it would be a major payday if she saved the bay from the pirates. She set out to Pinghai Bay, following the trail of women to the allegedly great pirate king She confronted him and defeated his harem of women that he set upon her. However, a large group of pirates attacked her next. She was overconfident, thinking herself as immortal as her title. She was defeated and taken prison by the pirates, who intended to leave her chained to some rocks for the vultures to feed upon when they left Pinghai Bay.

Fortunately for her, her fisherman love lived in Pinghai Bay, and he knew of her presence thanks to the ring he still kept to that day. He poisoned the pirates guarding her and freed her. He even gave her his simple little boat to escape on, asking only that she live her life and not seek out the pirates for revenge. She said she would not, but she was lying. That was exactly what she did. She caught up to the pirate fleet, firing arrows carrying her powerful chi and leaping from boat to boat. She destroyed many boats before luring them back into Pinghai Bay, where they were then trapped with her. She defeated them all, and her fisherman love watched the wreckage float up to his pier.

Returning to her fisherman, she was surprised that he so readily forgave her for lying. He had apparently come to the conclusion that she could no more stop fighting than he could stop fishing. With that understanding and acceptance of each other, they spent the rest of their days together, raising a family of four children. For as long as she lived, Wu Ao-Shi was the Pirate Queen of Pinghai Bay.

The book of the Iron Fists lists her life as 1517 to 1550 so she presumably died at the age of 33, as most all Iron Fists had.

Powers

Wu Ao-Shi possessed all of the abilities normally granted to an Iron Fist by the chi of Shou-Lao the Undying. In addition to that, she learned and developed a new technique. She could channel her chi through other mediums, such as arrows, increasing their destructive power. This technique would be chronicled in the Book of the Iron Fist and learned by some later Iron Fists. Orson Randall knew her technique quite well, using it with a pair of handguns.