Yu Xiaogang

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Yu Xiaogang (玉小刚)
Alias(es)	Grandmaster
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Shrek Academy
Occupation/Role	Shrek Academy vice dean; teacher and strategist
Soul Power	Level 30 Spirit Master 80
First Appearance	Chapter 30

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Level 30 Spirit Master	80	Consumed Tang San's Ten-Thousand-Year Nine-Grade Purple Ganoderma, which improved his constitution and finally allowed him to break through the level-30 barrier after more than thirty years. 79 80

Background / History

Yu Xiaogang is a member of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and the uncle of Yu Tianheng. He left the family after offending Spirit Hall, claiming that he did so to protect his relatives; Tianheng later confronts him over allegations involving the Spirit Hall Saintess and an affair with her. Their reunion is strained, despite Tianheng having been attached to Xiaogang as a child. 42

He was part of the Golden Iron Triangle alongside Flender and Liu Erlong. Xiaogang and Liu Erlong had once been lovers, but they spent twenty years apart before reuniting when Shrek Academy relocated to Blue Tyrant Academy. 74

Unable to break through level 30 for decades, Xiaogang accepts Tang San's Nine-Grade Purple Ganoderma during the expedition to Poison Mountain. The herb finally enables his long-sought breakthrough. 79 80

Appearance

Yu Xiaogang is a middle-aged man with a rigid, corpse-like expression and a stiff manner of smiling. 30

• Wears his hair in a buzz cut. 42
• Often stands with his hands clasped behind his back to project an inscrutable, authoritative demeanor. 31 39 59
• His outward composure can collapse abruptly when Tang San is endangered. 48

Personality

Xiaogang is intensely proud of his identity as the author of the Ten Core Competitiveness Theories and of his role as Tang San's teacher. He presents himself as confident and scholarly, offering Qingxi a promise that he could train her into a Title Douluo and treating his theories as a source of personal prestige. 30 31

His teaching style is demanding and often punitive. When Ma Hongjun is late, he orders the entire team to carry fifty-kilogram stones back to Shrek Academy so that all members share responsibility for one person's mistake. 33 He also views victory in the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament as a means to establish both Shrek's reputation and his own. 77

Although he is deeply protective of Tang San and genuinely concerned for Shrek's students, this attachment can become controlling. He reacts violently to reports that Tang San is in danger and plots to have Tang San defeat Qingxi in order to break her pride and recruit her afterward. 48 39

Abilities & Skills

Soul Mastery

Xiaogang is a Spirit Master whose Soul Power was long stalled below level 30 before his breakthrough. 79 80

• His Martial Soul is Luo Sanpao, which reappears after the Golden Iron Triangle's fusion technique ends. 78
• He recognizes prominent Spirit Masters and Title Douluo, including Guang Ling Douluo, whom he identifies as Spirit Hall's Fifth Elder and a level 96 peak Douluo. 48
• His individual strength is limited relative to the high-level Soul Masters around him; Tang Hao's spiritual pressure forces him flat onto the ground. 55

Golden Iron Triangle Fusion Skill

Together with Flender and Liu Erlong, Xiaogang can form the Golden Iron Triangle and unleash their Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Sun and Moon Shine, Golden Transformation. 77

• The fusion creates a golden dragon controlled by Xiaogang. 78
• Its combined power is comparable to that of a level 91–92 Title Douluo. 78
• Even at this level of power, the trio cannot breach the barrier surrounding Poison Mountain and are exhausted after roughly an hour of attacks. 78

Theory and Instruction

Xiaogang authored the Ten Core Competitiveness Theories and uses them as the basis for Shrek's training and battle planning. 31

• He emphasizes optimal Soul Ring configurations and structured Soul Master development. 31
• He designs demanding group training, including a requirement that Shrek hunt at least one hundred Soul Beasts above one thousand years old within a month. 76
• He plans combat tactics for individual matches, including advising Zhu Zhuqing to maintain distance and use Tang San's hidden weapons. 35
• Qingxi openly rejects his theories as flawed, particularly their treatment of Soul Ring age limits and Soul Bone acquisition. 31 43

Equipment / Items

• Martial Soul Hall token — Used to buy time for Tang San and the others during a crisis, despite Xiaogang regarding it as a symbol of disgrace. 52
• Nine-Grade Purple Ganoderma — Given to him by Tang San; it strengthens his foundation and enables his breakthrough to level 30. 79 80

Relationships

• Tang San — His disciple and the person Xiaogang is most fiercely protective of; he trains Tang San for the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament and shares information about Tang Hao's past with him. 39 48 84
• Flender — Fellow Golden Iron Triangle member and Shrek Academy's dean. Flender frequently moderates Xiaogang's harsh decisions and later engineers Xiaogang's reunion with Liu Erlong. 33 74
• Liu Erlong — Former lover and Golden Iron Triangle partner. They reunite after two decades apart when Shrek arrives at Blue Tyrant Academy. 74 76
• Yu Tianheng — His nephew. Their relationship is distant after Xiaogang's departure from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and Tianheng's knowledge of Xiaogang's past. 42
• Qingxi / Qiankun Mingxin — A Soul Fighting Arena prodigy Xiaogang repeatedly attempts to recruit into Shrek. She rejects him, criticizes his theories, and refuses his proposed wager match. 30 31 42
• Dugu Yan — Her unusually high-level Soul Rings challenge Xiaogang's theories and drive his desire to uncover the Dugu Family's method for absorbing Soul Rings beyond their usual limits. 62 63
• Tang Hao — Tang San's father. Xiaogang recognizes him as Clear Sky Douluo and relies on his intervention when Tang San is endangered. 55 84

Story Role / Major Arcs

Xiaogang first encounters Qingxi at the Great Soul Fighting Arena and tries to recruit her for Shrek Academy. Her dismissal of both him and his theories becomes a major source of humiliation and motivates his later efforts to defeat and recruit her through Tang San. 30 31 39 42

After the conflict between Shrek and the Imperial Fighting Team, Xiaogang directs Shrek toward a Central Soul Fighting Arena match partly to seek revenge against Yu Tianheng and Qingxi's associates. The plan ends with Shrek's defeat and Xiaogang's discovery that the Dugu Family possesses methods that contradict his Soul Ring theories. 59 62 63

When Shrek Academy cannot continue as before, he agrees to move the students to Blue Tyrant Academy for their sake. There, he reunites with Liu Erlong and resumes working with Flender and her as the Golden Iron Triangle. 69 74

During Shrek's Sunset Forest training, Xiaogang sets intensive hunting goals, assists Tang San's attempt to claim the treasure within Poison Mountain, and participates in the unsuccessful assault on its barrier through the Golden Iron Triangle's fusion skill. 76 77 78

He later explains Tang Hao's history to Tang San, suggesting Spirit Hall may have been involved in the events that led to Tang Hao's expulsion from the Clear Sky Sect and fueling Tang San's hostility toward Spirit Hall. 84