Huai Shi

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Huai Shi (淮莳)
Alias(es)	Sword of Calamity; Taiyi, King of the Sun 1503 1654
Species/Race	Human Ascendant
Gender	Male 181 1674
Affiliation	Astronomical Society; Ivory Tower; Heavenly Kingdom Lineage; Heaven Organization 33 541 1654 1681
Occupation/Role	Xinhai Inspector; former confidential secretary to Ai Qing; Ivory Tower teacher; Major General; Lord of the Heavenly Kingdom Lineage; last President of the Astronomical Society 33 501 541 1536 1654 1681
Status	Alive; challenges the King of Giants for the position of Grand Lord 1695

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Yin Soul — First-Stage Holy Mark	83	Crow installs her Yin Soul Holy Mark in Huai Shi, greatly increasing his negative-energy output and making him roughly twice as powerful.
Yin Soul manifestation	94	Absorbing the Dust of the Liberator lets the Holy Marks override his organs and transform him into a Yin Soul; Calamity Ash and Heart Poison become lethal to those who attempt to absorb his origin essence.
Tier 2 — Mountain Ghost	180 181	Returns to a living body with enhanced physical ability and the Mountain Ghost Holy Mark, but initially cannot control its toxic ecological effects.
Tier 3 — Shao Siming	495 496	Completes the Shao Siming advancement ritual, gaining Shadow Burial and a larger Nibelungen Ring while repairing the Spiritual Coffin and enabling Uncle Fang's evolution.
Fourth-Tier — Great Siming	812	Gains a divinity capable of freely shifting origin essence between life and death; his explosive power and speed rise sharply.
Natural Enemy: Phoenix — initial realization	1638	Understands Phoenix as the freedom to select desired possibilities from all phenomena, briefly summoning alternate versions of himself from different timelines.
Taiyi / Lord of the Heavenly Kingdom Lineage	1654	Becomes the new Lord of the Heavenly Kingdom Lineage and receives the title Taiyi, King of the Sun, despite having lost his former power.
Sun Forger / Heaven Project authority	1681	Gains the power of a Sun Forger, becomes the last President of the Astronomical Society, and begins the Heaven Project.

Background

Huai Shi descends from the Xinhai Huai Family. His great-grandfather was a rare Tier 4 Ascendant who amassed wealth on the open frontiers and helped the declining Yin Family recover. After his death, the Huai Family produced no further Ascendants, declined financially, and was further harmed by the Yin Family. Huai Shi's grandfather later died, while his parents disappeared with a large sum of assets. 65

The consciousness within Stone Marrow Hall, Uncle Fang, is regarded as Huai Shi's family. Uncle Fang's fragmented consciousness witnessed the Huai Family's decline until Huai Shi's wish replenished his origin essence and allowed him to manifest in the current realm. 101

At seventeen, Huai Shi identified himself as a student, Astronomical Society operative, and Ai Qing's confidential secretary. 187 He continued trying to preserve an ordinary life even after becoming an Ascendant, including attending school and preparing for college entrance examinations. 501

Appearance

Huai Shi's body and appearance change repeatedly with his Holy Marks and ecological adaptations.

• After becoming a Mountain Ghost, his black hair grows to waist length and cannot initially be shortened. 180
• His Tier 2 transformation gives him an androgynous face, pale complexion, soft features, and striking eyes; he remains emphatically male. 180 181
• His uncontrolled Mountain Ghost aura once forces him to wear a full-body sealed protective suit, as his breath and skin spread plague, Calamity Ash mist, and life-bearing growth. 181
• A later desert adaptation shortens his hair and changes his skin to a rough, yellow-brown texture; a thin membrane forms over his eyes to retain moisture. 467
• He can alter his appearance for infiltration, including aging his features, growing a beard, lengthening his hair, and forming a black robe from Guixu's darkness. 1415

Personality

Huai Shi is irreverent, talkative, and prone to meeting danger with sarcasm. He often conceals anxiety behind jokes, whether pestering Ai Qing for an advance on his salary or responding literally to praise and threats. 34 236

His stated ideal is a happy life, which he considers difficult enough to be worth striving for. Even so, he repeatedly chooses to intervene when he believes he can prevent harm, describing this as his overly kind nature. 83 764

He is protective of those he considers family, friends, students, or subordinates. This attachment makes him cautious about risks to Uncle Fang, attentive to his students during expeditions, and willing to take responsibility for difficult decisions. 541 1030 1559

In battle, Huai Shi is adaptive and exhilarated by formidable opponents. He employs deception, psychological pressure, improvised tactics, and overwhelming force without losing his sense of humor. 243 1199 1469

Abilities & Skills

Yin Soul

Crow's Yin Soul Holy Mark specializes in negative origin essence and acts as the foundation of Huai Shi's earliest Ascendant power.

• Produces substantially increased negative energy after installation. 83
• Allows Huai Shi to assume a bodyless Yin Soul state when stimulated by the Dust of the Liberator. 94
• Channels Calamity Ash and Heart Poison through his origin essence. 94
• Makes forcibly absorbing his origin essence dangerous, as the poison and despair within it can destroy the attacker. 94

Mountain Ghost

The Mountain Ghost Holy Mark gives Huai Shi a life-based internal ecosystem and extreme vitality, but its early lack of control makes him hazardous to those nearby.

• Enhances his speed, strength, and reaction time after his return to a living body. 180
• Causes plants and mushrooms to grow around him. 180 181
• Emits Plague Aura and Calamity Ash mist; ordinary people exposed to him for too long risk lethal infection. 181
• Supports ecological adaptation, including water retention and desert survival. 467
• Can rapidly grow poisonous plants, thorny vegetation, flowers, and trees across a battlefield. 996

Shao Siming and Great Siming

Shao Siming expands Huai Shi's command over shadows, death, subordinate creatures, and origin-essence weaponry. Its later Great Siming divinity enables a more complete transformation between life and death.

• Shadow Burial leaves afterimages and enables rapid shadow-based movement. 496 601
• Expands the storage capacity of his Nibelungen Ring. 496
• Commands a personal crow swarm whose members can manifest and wield versions of his weapons. 539 677
• Allows crows to act as extensions of his soul and power, with their number increasing as he advances. 677
• Great Siming divinity shifts between life force and death force at will, greatly improving speed and explosive power. 812

Lord of the Clouds, Guixu, and Forging

Huai Shi combines the Great Siming's reach with the Lord of the Clouds' authority over weather, lightning, and forging.

• Uses the Great Swarm as a network through which he can descend with lightning wherever his crows are present. 1017
• Wields Guixu to neutralize hostile attacks and return them to their source. 1199
• Calls destructive Guixu rainstorms capable of consuming reanimated troops and hellish forces. 1238
• Transmutes enemy origin essence into heavy steel. 1070
• Uses the Forging Furnace to reforge weapons, construct defenses, and turn battlefield matter into steel structures. 1029 1030 1536
• Can create and direct ecological weapons, including hellish locust swarms grown from corpses. 1391

Extreme Intent: Symphony

Symphony is Huai Shi's Extreme Intent, based on unifying his own rhythm and creating resonance with external forces.

• Resonates with outside matter and living beings to produce power beyond his normal limits. 837
• Can bypass conventional defenses by disrupting an opponent's internal frequencies and detonating force within them. 837
• Lets him control a tidal power station and reverse the tide as a vast “symphony.” 946
• Carries severe backlash risk; its instinctive activation injures both Huai Shi and Old Man Luo. 837

Natural Enemy: Phoenix

Huai Shi's Phoenix authority concerns destiny, possibility, and the selection of outcomes.

• Allows him to perceive possible outcomes as if they were parallel worlds. 1638
• Selects desired possibilities while pruning harmful or unfavorable ones. 1638
• Briefly manifests alternate selves, including an artificial star, a Hell God, and an Eternal Life Beast. 1638
• He cannot initially use the authority as freely as Chu Qingyu, and the alternate manifestations are incomplete compared with her mastery. 1638

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Sword of Virtue — A sword encountered during Huai Shi's Shao Siming advancement vision; later used as a weapon of radiant, blessing-amplified force. 495 814
• Spear of Compassion — An origin-essence spear created from Huai Shi's soul and enhanced with a fragment of the Philosopher's Stone. 161
• Spear of Flowing Water / Afang — Ying Fangzhou's damaged spear, reforged through the Forging Furnace and Spirit Coffin into a long mace named Afang. 1029 1031
• Blade of Resentment — A blade Huai Shi wields through a performance method, including the relentless Kiri-kaeshi stance. 663
• Forging Furnace — A forge integrated with Huai Shi's power, used for weapon reforging, industrial work, and material transmutation. 812 1029
• Book of Destiny — A soul-bound book that responds to certain relics, filters information, and remains central to Huai Shi's fate. 236 1040 1671
• Nibelungen Ring — Storage ring whose capacity increases after Huai Shi becomes Shao Siming. 496
• Whetstone glove — A commemorative figure given by Ai Qing that transforms into a glove for improving a weapon's effectiveness. 87

Relationships

• Ai Qing — Huai Shi's former superior and the person who recruits him as her confidential secretary. Their relationship develops from strict professional oversight into deep operational trust; she repeatedly invokes his reputation to secure support for her plans. 33 34 1503
• Crow — Huai Shi's Holy Mark creator, guide, and frequent tormentor. She installs Yin Soul, supervises his advancements, and maintains a teasing but influential presence in his life. 83 496 1130
• Uncle Fang / Ying Fangzhou — A Huai Family elder and the consciousness of Stone Marrow Hall. Huai Shi considers him family and works with him on dangerous reforging projects. 101 1030
• Luo Xian — Huai Shi's senior sister and a major emotional attachment. She openly admits that she would be jealous if he loved another person and tells him that she likes him when he acts to protect his family. 1129 1559
• Fu Yi — Friend and fellow participant in several unusual trials. Huai Shi decides to tell her something important after confronting his regrets, while she continues to show concern for his welfare. 482 1532
• Tong Ji — Huai Shi's contractor, guide, and manipulative confidante. She claims their contract includes his life, soul, and authority, and explicitly calls him her property. 1130
• Old Man Luo — Huai Shi's demanding sword mentor. Huai Shi learns sword techniques and Extreme Intent principles from him, though their training can injure both teacher and student. 214 837
• Kuafu — Rival and battlefield partner. They mock each other constantly, but cooperate effectively enough for Kuafu to call Huai Shi a brother. 1361 1542

Story Role / Major Arcs

• Xinhai and Astronomical Society — After Benevolent Charity begins asking about him, Huai Shi is warned to leave Xinhai. He later defeats Red Glove and is recruited by Ai Qing as an Astronomical Society confidential secretary. 16 33
• Yin Soul and the Purified People — Crow installs Yin Soul, after which Huai Shi uses its power against Qi Yuan and the Purified People. The Dust of the Liberator triggers his first full Yin Soul transformation during that conflict. 83 94
• Mountain Ghost and Jinling — Huai Shi reaches Tier 2, struggles to contain his toxic Mountain Ghost ecology, and is drawn into Jinling's emergency mobilization and Ascendant affairs. 180 181
• Shao Siming and the Ivory Tower — He advances to Shao Siming, becomes a teacher associated with the Ivory Tower, and leads students on the Abyss Sector Phase III Project expedition to Hell. 495 496 541
• Tanba Inner Circle — Huai Shi revitalizes the Tanba Inner Circle, establishes strategic partnerships with major industrial groups, and demonstrates the Forger's craft as distinct from conventional Alchemy. 832 833
• War of All Realms — Recognized as an S-Class Ascendant and Major General, Huai Shi becomes a key defender and battlefield weapon, deploying industrial, ecological, weather, and Guixu-based powers against Hell. 1503 1536
• Taiyi and Heaven — After becoming Lord of the Heavenly Kingdom Lineage, Huai Shi takes on the status of Taiyi. He later becomes the last President of the Astronomical Society and leads the Heaven Project. 1654 1681
• Grand Lord challenge — Huai Shi seeks the position of Grand Lord and accepts the requirement to defeat every Giant before challenging the King of Giants. 1695

Notable Quotes

“If it's difficult, doesn't that make it worth striving for?” — Huai Shi 83

“Of course, I'm doing it for myself.” — Huai Shi 1638

“I'm Huai Shi from the Xinhai Huai Family.” — Huai Shi 311

Trivia

• Huai Shi explains that his surname uses the character for the locust tree, while his given name uses the character for poetry. 403
• His impoverished old house was ranked first among Xinhai's supposed haunted houses, much to his frustration. 34
• He is reputedly the youngest six-star Culinary Demon in the current realm. 1341