Yu Xiaogang

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Yu Xiaogang (玉小刚)
Alias(es)	Grandmaster; Master Yu
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Notting College; later seeks admission under Su Yun
Occupation/Role	Martial soul theorist; self-proclaimed Grandmaster
Cultivation	Twenty-ninth-level Soul Grand Master 27
Status	Alive; last depicted being expelled after again begging Su Yun to accept him 54
First Appearance	Chapter 15

Background / History

Yu Xiaogang was born into the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan but was driven out after his mutated Martial Soul prevented him from breaking through level thirty. The resulting scorn and isolation left him deeply invested in gaining recognition as a martial soul theorist. 16

He built his theoretical system, the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul, from Martial Soul Hall archives, elder notes, and Soul Master training records rather than from original research. 16 18 His past relationships with Bibi Dong and his cousin-wife Liu Erlong remain a source of intense shame and directly affect his attempt to become Su Yun's disciple. 40

Appearance

Yu Xiaogang is a middle-aged man with a crew cut, stubbly chin, faded cloth shirt, and a habitually severe, hands-behind-back posture. 15

• Often raises his chin at a forty-five-degree angle while presenting himself as an inscrutable scholar. 15 16
• Became notably disheveled while secretly following Su Yun and Tang San, with leaves on his clothes, mud-caked shoes, and heavy dark circles. 22
• Was blackened by the explosion of Luo Sanpao's gas and left hanging from a tree during the Void Shadow Rat battle. 27 28

Personality

Yu Xiaogang is proud, vain, and intensely dependent on validation. Su Yun's praise quickly draws him into presenting his theories before an audience, where he relishes being treated as an intellectual authority. 16 17 He frequently preserves his self-image through rationalization, including privately declaring himself the true victor of the Void Shadow Rat battle despite being incapacitated for most of it. 28

His pursuit of recognition can become desperate. After Su Yun demonstrates the Soul Spirit system and Tang San's martial soul evolves beyond Yu Xiaogang's predictions, Yu Xiaogang abandons his former dignity and repeatedly begs to become Su Yun's disciple, servant, or experiment recorder. 40 54

Abilities & Skills

Martial Soul Theory

Yu Xiaogang possesses substantial familiarity with recorded martial soul cases and can make useful deductions from them.

• Correctly deduced that Tang San possessed Twin Martial Souls after observing the incompatibility between Blue Silver Grass and Innate Full Soul Power. 15
• Developed the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul, including the maxim that there are no worthless martial souls, only worthless soul masters. 16
• Advocates Martial Soul Mimicry Theory: under certain conditions, a plant-type martial soul may absorb a beast-type soul ring. 17
• His conclusions are challenged for relying on exceptional surviving cases while overlooking failed and fatal attempts. 18
• His prescribed poison-and-toughness route for Tang San's Blue Silver Grass is disproven when Tang San instead awakens a light-aligned martial soul and reaches level 14 peak. 34 39

Field Analysis

Yu Xiaogang attempts to identify soul beasts through physical traces and accumulated data.

• Identified rat droppings as belonging to an approximately four-hundred-year Void Shadow Rat by examining their plant fibers, acidity, and freshness. 25
• His predicted pursuit location proved wrong, severely shaking his confidence in his data model. 25
• His methods are unconventional and unhygienic; he tasted the rat excrement during his analysis. 25

Luo Sanpao

Yu Xiaogang can summon Luo Sanpao, his mutated Martial Soul, in combat. 27

• Luo Sanpao releases a cloud of flammable gas that can be ignited into a powerful explosion. 27
• The gas cloud helped repel the Void Shadow Rat, but the explosion also blasted Yu Xiaogang and Luo Sanpao into a tree. 27
• Yu Xiaogang has limited direct combat capability and relies heavily on allies and theoretical guidance. 27 28

Guidance Method

Yu Xiaogang claims to possess a self-created method for guiding Soul Ring absorption.

• Offered Su Yun a claimed ninety-percent chance of successfully absorbing the Void Shadow Rat's spatial Soul Ring. 29
• The method failed when Su Yun's Star Gate devoured the ring rather than allowing conventional absorption. 30
• He later misjudged Bai Ze as a weak ten-year soul beast, only for its power to upgrade Su Yun's Star Gate and Soul Ring. 33

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Twenty-Four Bridges jade belt — A storage soul tool with twenty-four independent spaces; Yu Xiaogang surrendered it to Su Yun to avoid being reported for stalking. 23
• Third-Level Token — Used to secure the group's entry into the Soul Hunting Forest. 24
• Theory notebook — Contains his martial soul theories and is repeatedly used to record observations. 29 39

Relationships

• Su Yun — Initially manipulated by Su Yun's flattery, then publicly discredited by him. After witnessing Su Yun's Soul Spirit system, Yu Xiaogang begs to become his disciple twice; Su Yun rejects him for his character and past conduct. 16 18 40 54
• Tang San — Yu Xiaogang attempts to accept Tang San as a disciple after discovering his Twin Martial Souls. Tang San becomes increasingly distrustful after Yu Xiaogang's failed guidance and flawed Blue Silver Grass theory. 15 19 30 34
• Luo Sanpao — His mutated Martial Soul and combat companion, capable of releasing flammable gas. 27
• Bibi Dong — Yu Xiaogang identifies her as his first love. 40
• Liu Erlong — Yu Xiaogang identifies her as his cousin and wife; their relationship is among the private entanglements that shame him before Su Yun. 40
• Red Hair's Group — Accompanies Yu Xiaogang in the Soul Hunting Forest but grows openly hostile after his guidance fails; they later physically throw him out after his second plea to Su Yun. 30 54

Story Role / Major Arcs

Notting College Theory Dispute

Yu Xiaogang approaches Tang San, exposes his Twin Martial Souls, and attempts to recruit him as a disciple. Su Yun draws him into an “academic seminar,” where Yu Xiaogang presents his theories before being confronted over their logic, survivorship bias, and dependence on Martial Soul Hall records. 15 16 18 19

Soul Hunting Forest Expedition

After secretly following Su Yun and Tang San, Yu Xiaogang gives up his twenty-four-space storage belt to avoid arrest and uses his Third-Level Token to get the group into the forest. His field analysis misdirects the party, while his Luo Sanpao's gas becomes part of the successful—though highly uncontrolled—Void Shadow Rat kill. 22 23 24 25 27

Collapse of His Theories

Yu Xiaogang's Guidance Method fails during Su Yun's first Soul Ring attempt, and he misinterprets Bai Ze's transformed white Soul Ring as an ordinary ten-year ring. Tang San's subsequent light-aligned Blue Silver Grass evolution further overturns Yu Xiaogang's poison-focused development plan. 30 33 34 39

Pursuit of Su Yun's Teaching

The Soul Spirit contract system convinces Yu Xiaogang that Su Yun's knowledge surpasses his own by an overwhelming margin. He kneels to request discipleship, but Su Yun's conditions concerning character and forbidden relationships trigger Yu Xiaogang's fear over his past. His second, more desperate plea is rejected, and Su Yun's students throw him out beside a trash can. 40 54

Notable Quotes

“There are no worthless martial souls, only worthless soul masters.” 16

“A petty man is not worth plotting with! You cannot discuss ice with a summer insect!!” 18

Trivia

• Yu Xiaogang's habit of standing with his hands behind his back and looking skyward is repeatedly used to project scholarly authority. 15 16 25
• He considers the Void Shadow Rat battle a personal “three to zero” victory despite being blasted into a tree and contributing no direct finishing blow. 28
• His objection to Su Yun naming the surrendered jade belt “Jade Blowing Xiao” reveals how strongly he fears public scandal. 24