Zhang Zhengyi

Biodata

Feature	Information
Name	Zhang Zhengyi (张正义)
Alias(es)	Little Fatty; Zhang Wei; Qin Youde (while impersonating Qin Yang) 177 498
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Dao Sect; associated with the Yellow Springs Demon Sect through Martial Uncle Cui 498 1018
Occupation/Role	Tomb Keeper and Nether Emperor; grave robber/archaeologist; disguise specialist and infiltrator 918 922 936
Status	Alive; capable of resurrection through the Undying Divine Phoenix Mystical Power 1018
First Appearance	Chapter 15

Background

Zhang Zhengyi first approached Qin Yang after realizing that Qin had effortlessly outclassed him as a thief. Impressed rather than deterred, he sought to join Qin Yang's sect and quickly adopted the address of “Senior Brother Qin.” 15

While separated from Qin Yang in a Secret Realm, Zhang was killed but revived with his secret Divine Phoenix Undying technique. He then attached himself to Bai Yutang's group through shameless flattery, using the group for cover while he assessed the danger around him. 30

His exploration of the Black Li ancestral lands later exposed him to the Rebirth Curse, which reduced his cultivation and transformed him into a bird demon. Qin Yang determined that the curse had instead stirred Zhang's ancient bloodline, prompting Zhang to pursue archaeology as a way to uncover records that could explain and control it. 319 321

The bloodline issue worsened when the Time Stealer Xun Mu targeted Zhang's body and backup remains. Xun Mu's insect mark acted simultaneously as a Mystical Power and a bloodline curse, remaining even after Zhang resurrected. Qin Yang helped him investigate remedies, gave him a Heart-Devouring Gu pendant to prevent deep sleep, and passed the Lotus Manual and other methods to him through a dream. 631 632 633

Appearance

Zhang Zhengyi is associated with the “Little Fatty” appearance, but his true appearance is rarely reliable because of his extensive transformation skills. His original body has a subtly higher left shoulder than right, a detail Qin Yang uses when verifying his identity. 15 631

• Naturally slightly chubby build beneath his disguises. 15
• Left shoulder sits slightly higher than his right. 631
• Can alter his body, face, clothing, aura, and apparent gender well enough to evade even Qin Yang's recognition. 922
• Often leaves a deliberate identifying mark, such as a hairpin, when he needs Qin Yang to recognize him during official work. 924

Personality

Zhang Zhengyi is greedy, cowardly, and extremely concerned with self-preservation. He routinely prepares backup bodies, hidden heads, escape routes, and resurrection contingencies before taking risks. His fear of Qin Yang's displeasure is often greater than his fear of enemies. 767 905

Despite his tendency to flee, flatter, and court death for profit, he is clever and professionally diligent. He has genuine enthusiasm for ancient ruins, tomb repair, inscriptions, and forgotten records; when given support for archaeology, he becomes intensely focused on recovering information rather than treasure. 936

His loyalty to Qin Yang is real, if frequently motivated by survival and compensation. He repeatedly accepts dangerous impersonation and infiltration assignments, and he risked a contingency body to transmit a warning about the Inspiration High Priest. 498 907

Abilities & Skills

Undying Divine Phoenix

Zhang's defining Mystical Power allows him to revive after death.

• Revives after lethal injuries, decapitation, poisoning, dismemberment, and destruction of his body. 30 350 502
• Can regenerate from preserved remains; a surviving head may regrow a body and determine his revival location. 767 907
• His unusually long lifespan lets Qin Yang distinguish the real Zhang from the shorter-lived Time Stealer Xun Mu. 631
• Resurrection does not remove curses or problems rooted in his bloodline, including the Rebirth Curse and Xun Mu's insect mark. 631 632
• Severe injury and lost lifespan can still endanger him; Qin Yang used a Strange Fruit to restore his lifespan after a near-fatal encounter. 758

Disguise and Infiltration

Zhang is an exceptional shapeshifter, impersonator, and stealth operative.

• Assumes identities ranging from Qin Yang and Qin Youde to ordinary rogue cultivators, women, and unrelated strangers. 177 498 922
• Can evade detection by entering guarded spaces without disturbing defensive formations. 337
• Uses disguises to infiltrate the Heavenly Palace, where he convinced its inhabitants that he was Qin Youde. 902 904
• His disguises eventually surpassed Qin Yang's ability to identify him by appearance alone. 922
• Familiar behavioral habits can still expose him to Qin Yang, including his left-sided sneak attacks, posture, and distinctive mannerisms. 371 917

Tomb Exploration and Archaeology

Zhang specializes in locating, entering, repairing, and extracting information from ancient ruins.

• Treats archaeology as the best route to researching his unknown bloodline. 321
• Has explored countless mausoleums, Secret Realms, caves, and ruins, which manifest throughout his dreamscape. 633
• Repairs and excavates ancient tombs, often recovering historical records, inscriptions, Dao Patterns, and other information rather than only valuables. 922 936
• Claims knowledge of roughly ninety percent of the ancestral lands of major forces in the Tai Hao world. 940
• Uses tomb-related expertise to locate suitable sites for Qin Yang's plans. 922

Arrays, Embroidery, and Stealth Techniques

Zhang combines practical array knowledge with subtle movement and manipulation skills.

• Uses the Void Strolling Steps and favors attacks from an opponent's left side. 371
• Manipulates Array Eyes with embroidery skills, including convincing a Long Gown Array Eye to guide him through the Embroiderer Estate. 661
• Builds complex Arrays from newly learned Dao Patterns while probing the Heavenly Palace's defenses. 907
• Uses Starry Night Tear Artifacts for immediate escape when an investigation becomes too dangerous. 900

Mutual Destruction Methods

Zhang has developed a combat style centered on maximizing the cost of self-destructive techniques, relying on resurrection to survive their consequences.

• Activates multiple sacrificial methods at once, including bloodline burning, soul-destruction power, flesh-burning power, talismans, and a white-lotus confinement method. 916
• His combined detonation can annihilate nearby ghosts, spiritual energy, and surrounding matter. 916
• Qin Yang estimates that Zhang has mastered nearly a hundred such methods. 919
• Unlike conventional cultivators who suppress a technique's price, Zhang directly realizes the cost to maximize destructive output. 919
• Qin Yang considers this style powerful enough to threaten opponents within two major realms if Zhang can continue developing it. 919

Ancient Bloodline

Zhang possesses an ancient Divine Phoenix bloodline with unstable and potentially catastrophic implications.

• The Rebirth Curse failed to erase him because his bloodline resisted it, but this resistance accelerated the bloodline's awakening. 631
• Qin Yang warned that the bloodline could lead Zhang to greatness or destruction. 321
• True Dragon Blood can suppress the hidden bloodline temporarily; Old Ancestor Cui refined it into Thick Soup for this purpose. 483
• Zhang investigated a possible route to form an Innate Primordial Yang Dao Body through preserving his Primordial Yang and cultivating the Nine Yangs Traverse the Sky method. 535

Equipment / Items

• Heart-Devouring Gu pendant — Made by Qin Yang to prevent Zhang from falling into deep sleep while afflicted by Xun Mu's insect mark. 632
• Starry Night Tear Artifacts — Used for emergency escape from Jing You's ancestral mausoleum. 900
• Backup heads and body remains — Hidden across distant locations as resurrection contingencies. 630 767 905
• Archaeological storage rings — Contain Spirit Stones, excavation resources, death- and Yin-qi-tainted objects, and extensive records such as rubbings, tablets, jade slips, and books. 767
• Thick Soup from Old Ancestor Cui — A powerful restorative and bloodline-suppressing concoction enhanced with True Dragon Blood. 483 498

Relationships

• Qin Yang — Senior Brother, protector, employer, and frequent executioner. Qin Yang repeatedly revives Zhang, uses him for infiltration, and ultimately recognizes his potential as a trump card. 498 631 919
• Meng Yi — Dao Sect elder who subjects Zhang to harsh training; Zhang later credits Meng Yi's cultivation and guidance for much of his progress. 899 1018
• Xun Mu — Time Stealer who attempted to replace Zhang by occupying his backup body and planting an insect mark that slowly killed him. 631 632
• Old Ancestor Cui — Martial Uncle who brews Thick Soup for Zhang and assists with suppressing his bloodline problems. 483 498
• Jing You — Female cultivator whose pendant Zhang stole while disguised as Qin Youde; his investigation into her past led her to pursue him. 900
• Bie Biezi — Heavenly Palace undercover agent who killed Zhang as a loyalty test, believing Zhang to be dead permanently. 904 905

Story Role / Major Arcs

Impersonating Qin Yang

Zhang repeatedly used Qin Yang's identity for scams, grave robbing, and missions. His most notorious impersonation involved digging up ancestral graves under Qin Yang's name, drawing widespread pursuit and provoking Qin Yang into killing him and taking his storage treasures. 315

He later agreed to impersonate Qin Yang in Li Capital in exchange for supreme Thick Soup. The disguise was exposed when he met the Great Emperor Princess, leaving him beaten and swollen beyond recognition. 498 501

Rebirth Curse and Xun Mu Conflict

After the Rebirth Curse transformed him into a bird demon, Zhang committed himself to archaeology in search of ancient answers. The later emergence of Xun Mu escalated the problem: the Time Stealer used Zhang's backup body, planted the insect mark, and attempted to replace him entirely. 319 321 631

Zhang chose to make personal sacrifices rather than remain helpless, including considering the Sever White Tiger method in order to counter Xun Mu and strengthen his combat capacity. 633

Pursuit of Xun Mu

Zhang continued hunting Xun Mu through the Extremely Northern Ice Field and other ancient sites. During this period, he tricked both the Crown Prince and Imperial Grandson of Great Yan out of treasures, earning a wanted poster with a bounty comparable to those placed on major heretical cultivators. 749

His encounters with Xun Mu showed the growth of his combat methods: he used illusory forms, changing weapons, stealth, and ambushes rather than meeting his opponent head-on. 751

Tai Hao World and Heavenly Palace Infiltration

Qin Yang sent Zhang to the Tai Hao world for training and to search for Twelve. Zhang entered under Qin Youde's identity, gathered intelligence, infiltrated the Heavenly Palace, and gained access to the One Yuan Goddess's palace complex. 899 902

Although he died repeatedly during the operation, he maintained distant backup plans and used controlled resurrection to carry warnings between locations. His information about the Inspiration High Priest's trap allowed Qin Yang to act first. 905 907

Qin Yang's Trump Card

During the conflict with the Heavenly Palace, Zhang used a perfected mutual-destruction strike against a female cultivator, combining more than a dozen life-risking techniques into a single catastrophic attack. 916

Qin Yang subsequently re-evaluated him as a genuine genius rather than an idle Junior Brother, deciding to nurture him as a trump card because of his unusual fighting style, near-limitless willingness to pay costs, and resurrection-based survivability. 919