Zhang Fusheng

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Zhang Fusheng (张福生)
Alias(es)	Zhong Shan / the “True Person”; Zhang Boyang; Taiqing; World-Honored One / Tathagata; Fusheng Buddha Ancestor; Central Extreme Cult Master; Dao Venerate 15 184 203 226 314 336 342
Species/Race	Human; later bears the Human Ancestor status 267 268
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Hong Ji Martial Arts Hall; Gaotian Association; Above High Heaven; Chongyang City Public Security Bureau 21 114 126 150
Occupation/Role	Cultivator, Pact trader, disciple of Hong Tianbao, public-security official, founder and operator of shadow organizations
Status	Alive 356
First Appearance	Chapter 1

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Ordinary person	1	A Seventh District youth with poor innate talent who has not yet entered martial cultivation.
Dense White Bone Contemplation and Spring Thunder Method mastered	9	Learns the White Bone Contemplation in one day, the Spring Thunder Method in minutes, and the Lotus Flower Stance shortly afterward.
First Refinement Martial Artist	12	Displays 2,013 jin of instantaneous punching power through the Spring Thunder Technique.
Tiger Roar Fist — Perfection	17	Produces a tiger-head manifestation from his palm through a perfected lower-tier fist technique.
Dense White Bone Contemplation — Great Perfection	21	Achieves a level ordinarily requiring roughly a decade; Hong Tianbao accepts him as a disciple.
Second Refinement Peak	24	Uses the Pact to obtain fifty years of cultivation time and reaches the peak of the Second Refinement.
Third Refinement; Spiritual Realm; White Bone Contemplation — Minor Perfection	32	Completes the Third Refinement with 2,700 jin of strength and forms a mental world capable of interrogating and torturing intruders.
Third Refinement Perfection; Scattered Bones Form	44	Gains an intangible form that can pass through solid matter.
Dense White Bone Contemplation — Perfection; “He Observes as I Should Be”	39	Experiences 207 years of cultivation, allowing his Mental Spiritual Realm to descend into reality.
Fifth Refinement Major Accomplishment	53	Absorbs Huang Zhongxiao’s life force after forming a Dead Man’s Bone.
Seventh Refinement	64	Breaks through the Sixth and Seventh Refinements after absorbing Beauty Snake’s vitality.
Seventh Refinement Perfection	65	Defeats the rotting giant and absorbs the vitality of fallen Martial Artists.
Eighth Refinement	77	Consumes Star Beast Meat, gains Buddhist golden light, and completes the Pact’s cooldown.
Twelve Refinements	95	Reveals his true strength while confronting Niu Dali and Chen Yuque.
Martial Arts Master; first visceral secret opened	115	Opens the spleen’s great secret, gaining materialized Blood Essence and a substantial increase in physical and mental foundations.
Peak Martial Arts Master	142	Publicly claims three shackles broken and two visceral secrets opened while concealing his deeper foundation.
Grandmaster; Body Furnace Fire	157	Ignites the first hundred apertures after 160 years of cultivation; gains regeneration from a drop of blood and unprecedented physical force.
Peak Grandmaster	212	Arrives in Longzhou as Chongyang’s Bureau Chief, having reached the peak of the Grandmaster realm.
Innate expert	230	Returns to Chongyang after a major breakthrough and reveals a Deity form to Su Qiansuan.
Fuli Dharma Body	250	Cultivates the Human Dao of the Fuli Chapter, unifying his bodies, techniques, True Intents, and Great Strengths into a three-headed, six-armed Dharma Body.
Heavenly Human Fruit Status	254	Endures the Thunder, Fire, and Wind Tribulations.
Human Ancestor status	267	Anchors the Buzhou Heavenly Pillar in his Spiritual Realm and accepts the status of Human Ancestor.
Innate Being	333	Transforms after consuming the food of Yin Chang’an while concealing his true Dao.
Great Power	346	Refines a universe-scale realm and gains limited authority to influence the Great Heaven and Earth, including fate and certain rules.
Body of Emperor’s Mighty Dao	354	Absorbs the Great Trend and fortune of Humanity from the Fire Cloud Cave and Palace.

Background and History

Early life and the Pact

Zhang Fusheng grew up in the impoverished Seventh District with little natural aptitude for cultivation. Before entering martial arts training, he supported himself by making balloon animals, sometimes deliberately giving children the wrong animal to maximize his earnings. Despite his circumstances, he was determined to become a Martial Artist. 1

His defining advantage is a mysterious Pact that permits the buying and selling of abilities, cultivation, lifespan, memories, identities, and other personal qualities. Fearing that his abrupt growth would attract attention, he purchased the identity of the terminally ill former Martial Artist Zhong Shan and separated his public personas: “ordinary Zhang Fusheng” and the mysterious “True Person” Zhong Shan. 14 15

Martial Arts Academy

At the Martial Arts Academy, Zhang rapidly mastered the Dense White Bone Contemplation, Spring Thunder Method, Lotus Flower Stance, and Tiger Roar Fist. His frightening rate of progress earned him recognition from Chen Yuque and eventually led Hong Tianbao to accept him as a disciple. 9 21 24

He began treating cultivation as both a path to power and a market. He searched for desperate trading partners, acquired cultivation time through transactions, and started constructing the Gaotian Association as a secretive organization whose existence could be inferred without exposing its true structure. 14 17 46

Jiangzhou and Chongyang

After curing victims of the Flesh and Blood Plague while disguised as Zhong Shan, Zhang left Jiangzhou to avoid the investigation that would follow the miraculous recoveries. The subsequent Jiangzhou disaster caused the Federation to classify him as deceased. 38 112

In Chongyang’s Waiting Area, he secured a new identity by protecting Liu Cuihua from bounty hunters. He became a Senior Inspector, later rose through the Public Security Bureau, and leveraged both official authority and personal strength to become acting Director and then Bureau Chief. 113 114 158 212

Divine identities and later journey

As his Spiritual Realm expanded, Zhang accumulated increasingly real mythical identities—Taiqing, the World-Honored One, the Heavenly Venerate of Sin Removal, and the Central Extreme Cult Master. He consciously distinguishes these manifestations from his human self, insisting that “Zhang Fusheng” remains primary. 203 267

He later gains the Human Ancestor status, cultivates the Fuli Dharma Body, refines a universe-scale realm, and moves toward the Capital under the alias Dao Venerate. Even at this level, he considers himself a chess piece within a larger struggle and seeks enough power to leave the board entirely. 268 322 329 342 346

Appearance

Zhang Fusheng is an eighteen-year-old youth whose ordinary appearance is deliberately misleading. He can alter his face, bones, and flesh with ease, allowing him to assume identities such as Zhong Shan and Zhang Boyang. 126 184

• Usually presents as a calm, youthful, unremarkable young man.
• Can reshape himself into a towering Sixteen-Foot True Body with horns and a Vajra-like physique. 177
• Uses the Giant Contemplation to enlarge his body for direct combat. 48 97
• The Fuli Dharma Body manifests at sixty feet tall with three heads and six arms. 250
• The Dead Man’s Bones transformation leaves him between life and death and enables interaction with Soul Spirits. 52 53

Personality

Zhang is calculating, adaptable, and highly transactional. He views identities, cultivation, favors, and organizational ties as resources to be exchanged or cultivated. Rather than trusting rapid strength alone, he repeatedly establishes aliases, political cover, organizations, and contingency plans. 14 39 114 126

He can be ruthless when threatened. He intimidates officials, absorbs enemies’ life force, and is willing to issue lethal warnings to former allies who interfere with his objectives. 53 87 158

Despite this ruthlessness, he is not indifferent to suffering. He risks exposure to cure plague victims, intervenes against human trafficking, worries over his parents and cousin, and is pained by mass civilian casualties. 38 109 161

His greatest internal concern is losing himself to his growing collection of divine identities. He consciously rejects being defined solely by Taiqing, Tathagata, Zhong Shan, or the Central Extreme Cult Master. 203 267

Abilities & Skills

Pact

Zhang’s Pact enables transactions involving both tangible and intangible assets.

• Buys and sells abilities, cultivation time, memories, lifespan, identities, and personal traits. 1 39 52 197
• Purchased Zhong Shan’s identity to create a separate public persona and conceal his growth. 14 15
• Used acquired cultivation time to accelerate through multiple martial stages. 24 39
• Can exchange lifespan while retaining the ability to reclaim or redistribute the traded years. 52
• Has a cooldown that can be reduced through Star Beast Meat and Mysterious Factor gains. 77

Spiritual Realm and Mental Intent

Zhang’s Spiritual Realm began as a mental world shaped entirely by his will and later developed into a vast, increasingly tangible inner cosmos.

• Creates convincing illusions and sensory environments for interrogation, combat, and mental suppression. 32 64 124
• Can descend the Mental Spiritual Realm into reality after perfecting the White Bone Meditation. 39
• Uses mental interference to make opponents attack one another or misperceive reality. 64 124
• Can expel souls from living bodies without immediately killing the bodies. 124
• His extreme mental exertion can damage his body and sharply reduce his mental state. 72

Dead Man’s Bones

The Dead Man’s Bones make Zhang a “Half-Dead, Half-Alive Person,” blurring the boundary between his body and the dead.

• Greatly increases bone density and Mysterious Factor. 53
• Allows him to see and interact with Soul Spirits. 53
• Turns residual souls in his Spiritual Realm into grim skeletons that retain their former cultivation and skills. 53
• Enables vitality absorption for healing and cultivation advancement. 53 64 65
• Grants the Scattered Bones Form, which passes through solid matter but cannot harm—or be harmed by—cultivators above the Twelfth Refinement. 44

Martial Arts and Transformations

Zhang combines unusually rapid technical learning with overwhelming physical strength.

• Tiger Roar Fist — A perfected fist technique that manifests tiger-shaped intent. 17 48
• Spring Thunder Method — A breathing and force-application method that amplifies striking power through bone-and-muscle resonance. 9 12
• Giant Contemplation — Enlarges his body and multiplies physical force. 48 97
• Golden Body / Vajra physique — Grants a Buddhist-inflected body, bell-like sound, enhanced resilience, and immense strength. 77 97 177
• Regeneration — After igniting the Body Furnace Fire, he can regenerate from a drop of blood. 157

Dharma Forms and Dao Powers

Zhang’s later cultivation integrates Buddhist, Daoist, underworld, and Human Dao manifestations.

• Created the Underworld Form, also called the Ksitigarbha Form, after studying an opponent’s Dharma Form in combat. 145
• Cultivated the Fuli Dharma Body, which assimilates his True Intents, Great Strengths, scriptures, Vajra physique, and Flesh and Blood Divine Body. 250
• Uses Tawei, a Spiritual Power that perceives and controls fundamental particles and their karma; he has used it to reconstruct destroyed bodies. 322 331
• Can create and maintain projected bodies through Body Flying and Traces Entrusted, though powerful opponents may identify and pull down his true self. 354 356
• Created the Central Extreme Cult Master through One Qi Transforms into Three Pure Ones; the clone bears a great Heavenly Position and changes history around its own existence. 226

Karma, Time, and Fate

• Sees karmic connections and detects when others are tracking people linked to him. 342
• Uses the Mountain River Society and Country Diagram to fabricate a river of time and alter past events. 340
• Can suppress the karmic consequences of public revelations, causing people below the Venerable realm to forget that the World-Honored One is Zhang Fusheng. 314
• As a Great Power, can weave mortal fate and temporarily distort limited rules through the universe he refined. 346

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Eight Sceneries Palace — A Pact-linked palace with doors to the past, present, and future. 77
• Helplessness Bridge — A Supreme Treasure whose momentum Zhang can borrow in battle and which later aids his escape from the underground Martial Arts Manor. 222 263
• Nail Head Seven Arrows Book — A Supreme Treasure he can invoke for additional power. 222
• Human Emperor Seal — Carried after accepting the Human Ancestor status. 268
• Mountain River Society and Country Diagram — Used to create a false time river, revise the past, and plan the restoration of Jiangzhou City. 340
• Other Shore Flower — A flower of the Nine Nether Underworld given to Ruan Yutu upon accepting her as his adopted daughter. 230

Affiliations and Offices

Organization / Position	Role and tenure
Hong Ji Martial Arts Hall	Hong Tianbao’s disciple; formally inducted in Jiangzhou City. 21 24
Gaotian Association	Conceives its formation as a secret organization and plans to use his aliases to control it while joining under his real identity. 17 126
Chongyang City Public Security Bureau	Gains a Senior Inspector identity, becomes Deputy Director of Operations, assumes acting directorship, and is later known as Chongyang’s Bureau Chief. 114 134 158 212
Above High Heaven	Develops its future direction alongside the Gaotian Association and seeks to bring influential figures such as Shen Baobao into it. 114 150
Central Extreme Imperial Palace	Through the Central Extreme Cult Master, holds a great Heavenly Position from Mount Luofeng. 226

Relationships

• Hong Tianbao — Master. Hong accepts Zhang after witnessing his impossible progress, teaches him the Great Sun Illuminating Seventy-Two Great Snow Mountains True Scripture, and later supports Zhang’s parents after Jiangzhou’s fall. 21 24 112
• Zhang Wentao and Zhou Guifang — Parents. They believe him dead after Jiangzhou and repeatedly attempt to contact him; Zhang later safeguards them through Ghastly Skeletons. 112 157
• Chen Yuque — Senior sister and early instructor. She teaches him foundational techniques, recognizes his talent, and later becomes wary of his rapid growth and threats. 8 9 87
• Chen Nuanyu — Classmate and recurring companion. Zhang chooses to settle her debt, travels with her, and later agrees to an exchange involving her Unquenchable Heart to cure her mother. 24 46 53
• Zhu Xiaoming — Childhood friend. Zhu offers help during Zhang’s impoverished early life and remains one of Zhang’s most enduring ordinary-world connections. 1 87
• Zhong Shan — Former First Refinement Martial Artist whose identity Zhang purchases; Zhang uses the identity as the public face of the mysterious True Person. 14 15
• Zhong Yue — Zhong Shan’s granddaughter. She knows Zhang is not her grandfather but still seeks his visits because she misses Zhong Shan. 17
• Wei Lingzhu — First disciple. Zhang first meets her as “Zhang Boyang,” later reveals his real name, accepts her as a disciple, and helps her reach Minor Perfection in visualization. 184 196
• Ruan Yutu — Adopted daughter. Introduced by Su Qiansuan, she receives the Other Shore Flower and travels with Zhang afterward. 230 289
• Emperor Tang / Li Erfeng — Ally and companion. Zhang helps Emperor Tang seek freedom from Great Emperor Ziwei and provides him a new body and temporary identity. 254 255 259
• Shen Baobao — Ally and Underworld Officer. Zhang grants her authority over soul snatching, spirit capture, execution, and judgment. 259
• Nüwa — Guide in Zhang’s acceptance of his Human Ancestor status; she helps anchor his status within the Buzhou Heavenly Pillar. 267
• Miss Mingyue — A volatile ally and adversary. She offers instruction on the Earth Scroll, while Zhang later steals her Ginseng Fruit before altering the past to save her life. 109 340

Notable Quotes

“I, Zhang Fusheng, have lived my life without needing to explain myself to anyone.” 158

“I am Zhang Fusheng.” 196

“I am myself first.” 267