Yang Mu

Biodata

Feature	Information
Name	Yang Mu (阳沐)
Alias(es)	Swain; Black Witch King; Dark Lord; Darkness of Eternal Silence; Lord of the Demon Wheel; Congreve Pyne / Paine 92 210 420
Species/Race	Human 1 269
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Black Witch World; Mage World; Mage Academy 155 265 425
Occupation/Role	Necromancer, mage, undead engineer, magical researcher, and academy instructor 61 110 155
Status	Active 695
First Appearance	Chapter 1

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Former Sixth-Level Undead Archmage	1	Before the story, Congreve Pyne possessed the power of a sixth-level undead archmage; his shattered soul and dissipated spiritual power left Yang Mu starting again from an ordinary human body.
First-Order Formal Necromancer	46	Used a Spirit Ascension Potion to condense his mental power and form a First-Order spell model, enabling genuine First-Order magic.
Second Order	92	Formed Liquid Mental Power and inscribed the Second-Order necromancy spell Echo of the End.
Peak Third Order	175	Reached the peak of Third Order before beginning preparations for a Fourth-Order advancement.
Fourth Order	218	His actual rank was identified as Fourth Order; the Flame of Annihilation could overwhelm Fourth-Order foes and continuously burn Fifth-Order opponents.
Fifth Order	238	Had only recently broken through and was at his weakest Fifth-Order state, relying primarily on spellcasting while his Mage Tower and equipment remained unenhanced.
Sixth Order	265	Became a Sixth-Order existence whose presence and true name could not be safely retained by lower-order beings.
Peak Sixth Order	369	Reached Peak Sixth Order and began provoking Seventh-Order beings; he had also completed his Time Law comprehension and reconstructed his Law Ring by this period. 369 372
Seventh Order	409	Unified his counterparts across time dimensions, created his own spacetime, and became a Seventh-Order lifeform.
Immortal — Ancient Immortal System	587	Accumulated Benevolent Thoughts through descents, severed the Three Corpses, entered Innate Primordial Chaos, and became an Immortal.
Eighth Order	691	Survived the sealed spacetime trial, advanced to Eighth Order, and returned to the Void.

Background

Yang Mu originated as an ordinary human body inhabited by the shattered consciousness of Congreve Pyne, a former sixth-level undead archmage. His new body initially had average spiritual power, nearly nonexistent elemental perception, and no usable mage talent; even his former talents, Entropy Balance and Endless Modification, had been lost. 1

Rather than rely on innate aptitude, Yang Mu rebuilt his strength through necromancy, magical research, and calculated accumulation. Early on, he used weak reserves of spiritual power to create skeletal servants and basic spells, then steadily expanded his forces through corpse refinement and battlefield harvesting. 1 12 61

After operating as a pirate, he sought wealth, noble status, a castle, and a stable base within the Victoria Federation under the alias Swain. His longer-term objective was never personal cultivation alone: he intended to spread the Dark Forge Meditation, cultivate mages on a mass scale, establish a Mage Academy, and harvest the resulting knowledge and spiritual power. 58 63 92

Yang Mu later publicly acknowledged his identity as the Dark Lord, reviving the mark of Congreve Pyne in the Infinite Void. By the time he became the Black Witch World’s ancestor of mages, lower-order beings could not safely know or remember his true identity. 210 265

Personality

Yang Mu is intensely pragmatic, calculating, and self-centered. He treats knowledge, corpses, souls, contracts, organizations, and even allies as resources to be assessed for long-term value. His strategy commonly involves creating systems that allow others to grow while feeding their gains back into his own power. 63 471

He is also exceptionally vindictive when threatened or disrespected. Yang Mu deliberately ruined the Dummies’ plans after they threatened him, abandoned the Tucker Clan when its Martial Gods withheld his share of the spoils, and pursued those he believed had plotted against his fall. 276 283 535

Despite this ruthlessness, Yang Mu can value genuine companionship. He chose not to exploit Martial Ancestor after recognizing the latter’s character, guarded Martial Ancestor during his breakthrough, and developed a close, longstanding friendship with Anthony. 376 473 609

His attempts to cultivate benevolence revealed how emotionally numb he had become. Unable to sever a Good Corpse because he possessed almost no good intent, he sealed portions of his memories and created descent identities to experience compassion and make warm, feeling-based choices. 570 571 587

Abilities & Skills

Necromancy and Undead Engineering

Yang Mu’s primary discipline is necromancy. He creates, modifies, commands, enhances, and recycles undead servants on scales ranging from individual elite units to entire legions.

• Created a High-Level Mage Apprentice Floating Skull with Wraith Transformation, granting immunity to physical attacks. 12
• Modified Fishman corpses into specialized Second-Order undead and maintained a force of First- and Second-Order servants early in his rise. 61
• Created three Undead True Dragon Knights by refining wyvern corpses, Third-Order corpses, demon materials, and a massive array. 101
• Created the Eternal Calamity Beast Nest to produce biological weapons that could later be revived as undead, solving the problem of conventional troop sources. 171
• Led specialized spellcaster-focused undead legions against Old Ones and Outer Gods rather than relying on conventional expendable infantry. 328
• Possessed sixty-seven Seventh-Order Undead Servants and three Pseudo-Eighth-Order servants while pursuing a goal of ten thousand Seventh-Order undead. 597
• High-order undead creation is limited by his reserves, materials, and technical knowledge; ordinary materials generally produce servants no stronger than their creator’s own level. 596

Spellcraft and Magical Research

Yang Mu is an accomplished spell creator who develops magic from personal research rather than relying solely on established spell models.

• Entropy Annihilation Finger — A self-created First-Order spell model derived from the Law of Entropy Increase; its power can rival ordinary Second-Order magic, but its complexity makes it difficult for others to learn. 46
• Dark Barrier — A First-Order defensive spell that enveloped the Undead in black energy and blocked cannon fire. 46
• Echo of the End — A Second-Order necromancy spell that gathers death elements within a hundred-kilometer radius, compresses them, and detonates them at a chosen point. Its maximum output exceeds normal Second-Order limits. 92
• Chaos of Life — A composite Chaos spell that randomly alters a target’s life and death state, sex, and species, creating a stronger but grotesquely mutated servant under Yang Mu’s control. 66
• Life-Extinguishing Sword Qi — A technique he and his undead cultivate through slaughter and Negative Aura. Its quantity can be increased without limit if the user’s body can endure it, eventually producing attacks above the user’s normal order. 536 537

Dark Forge Meditation

Yang Mu created the Dark Forge Meditation from his accumulated knowledge as a means of compensating for his own limited aptitude and using the growth of later generations to empower himself.

• Practitioners’ activities can provide Yang Mu with offerings of spiritual power, allowing him to harvest power without personally cultivating or hunting enemies. 63
• He deliberately spreads the method strategically rather than indiscriminately, intending to create a self-sustaining mage civilization. 63
• The system’s underlying logic weakens Furnace Mages when facing Yang Mu and prevents them from surpassing him, preserving his control over its users. 471
• Its companion Flame of Annihilation burns absorbed power and can overwhelm opponents of Yang Mu’s own order. 218

Arrays, Artifice, and Mage Tower Operations

Yang Mu is highly proficient in magic arrays, magical item creation, and the use of his Mage Tower as a mobile fortress, laboratory, and strategic weapon.

• Used a city-scale Soul Extinction Formation to kill Stanno’s two million inhabitants and transform their souls into a Dead Soul Tide. 100
• Created Dark Magic Energy using a Dark Divine Kingdom and a Third-Order dark creature’s finger bone; it can produce thousands of Third-Order spell-equivalent attacks but is too costly for mass production. 60
• Uses Dark Eye Magic Energy to distort space for imprisonment and obstruction, or to fire dark rays. 209
• Devoured his Mage Tower and transformed it into a Floating Island capable of surviving in the Void and supporting world invasions. 155
• Refined Bashak’s Crown into the Black Witch King’s Crown, retaining Nightmare Weaving and Mental Amplification while raising his mental-strength amplification to 212%. 164

Higher-Order Talents and Systems

Yang Mu repeatedly integrates foreign systems into his own path rather than treating mage cultivation as his only source of power.

• Illusory Projection — A Seventh-Order talent that creates artificial counterparts capable of entering illusions and acquiring powers. 409
• Magnetism Control — After studying an Electromagnetic Controller, he had Tomb Realm modify him to control magnetism and integrate it with the Mind Knight system. 393
• Chaos Trait — Yang Mu can absorb and research Chaos Power, use Chaos Rune Arrays, and create Chaos-based undead servants. 245 260
• Ancient Immortal System — Through synchronization with his Evil Corpse, Yang Mu can freely switch between Mage and Ancient Immortal cultivation systems. 536
• Three Corpses — His Benevolent, Evil, and Self Corpses can develop independently, synchronize with one another, and provide contingency bodies and alternate paths of cultivation. 490 571

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Mage Tower — His central laboratory, fortress, production base, and transport platform; later transformed into a Void-capable Floating Island. 155
• Black Witch King’s Crown — The refined form of Bashak’s Crown; enhances mental strength, accelerates thought, supports multiple mental threads, and can summon Black Witch King Guards. 164
• Dark Eye Magic Energy — A dark-energy system used for battlefield saturation, spatial imprisonment, obstruction, and destructive rays. 60 209
• Eternal Crystal — A sphere-like sealing medium used to isolate Bashak’s Crown and weaken its temptation. 88
• Devouring-Heaven Demon Jar — Collects Negative Aura and powerful corpses to support Yang Mu’s cultivation and undead restoration. 568
• Terminus Emperor — A Pseudo-Eighth-Order Undead Servant with past, present, and future forms; its present form, the Decayed Emperor, uses Yang Mu’s near-perfect Death Destiny. 495

Relationships

• Jack — Disciple and pirate subordinate. Yang Mu trains him through souls, occult knowledge, arrays, and mage instruction while using Jack’s plundering to harvest spiritual power. 60 63 66
• Gordon Van Helsing — Guard, subordinate, and mutual observer. Gordon remains near Yang Mu to monitor the danger he represents, while Yang Mu uses him to train demon hunters for his future academy. 92
• Duan Shan — A chosen companion in one of Yang Mu’s descents. Yang Mu helps him become a Psychic and considers his analytical ability valuable enough to make him that world’s first mage. 276 272
• Tomb Realm — Symbiotic partner and major combat asset. Tomb Realm protects Yang Mu, shares memories with him by consent, and compensates for weaknesses in Yang Mu’s personal offensive power. 407 537
• Anthony — Yang Mu’s closest friend and long-term collaborator. They exchange resources, jointly resolve crises, and understand one another well enough for Anthony to notice subtle changes in Yang Mu’s emotions. 369 425 609
• Martial Ancestor — Initially a contractual ally, later a genuine friend. Yang Mu guarded his breakthrough instead of exploiting it, and the two repeatedly cooperate in high-order conflicts. 287 377 473
• Anna — A companion tailored to Yang Mu’s preferences who abandoned the Chaos World to follow him. After the danger of her status as Nyarlathotep’s avatar was severed, Yang Mu accepted her devotion and reunited with her on returning to the Void. 695
• Lin Dong — Yang Mu’s son through a descent identity. Lin Dong understands that Yang Mu merged with his father rather than being wholly identical to him, but still recognizes Yang Mu as his father because of the care and long-term arrangements he received. 478
• Treasure Realm Overlord — Yang Mu’s teacher, who advises him on cultivating benevolent intent and convenes Eighth-Order beings to consider Yang Mu’s strategic proposals for the Mage World. 425 570

Story Role / Major Arcs

• Rebuilding as a Necromancer — Begins with the diminished remains of Congreve Pyne’s consciousness and rebuilds his power through skeletal servants, corpse refinement, and First-Order spellcraft. 1 46
• Pirate Campaigns and Mage Cultivation — Uses pirate activity, soul harvesting, and the Dark Forge Meditation to empower Jack’s crew while developing plans for a mage academy. 59 63
• Victoria Federation Noble — Adopts the alias Swain, acquires a noble title and castle, hosts a banquet to obtain magical resources, and establishes influence among the Federation’s elites. 68 92
• Stanno Massacre — Activates the Soul Extinction Formation, kills two million inhabitants of Stanno, absorbs their souls, and earns the hostility of the God of Wilderness and Beasts. 100
• Black Witch King — Expands his Mage Tower, develops the Academy, confronts descended gods, and becomes the hidden ancestor of mages in the Black Witch World. 155 175 265
• World and Void Expansion — Battles Old Ones, Outer Gods, and the World Will; acquires Chaos-related power; builds empires, undead legions, and cross-world systems. 239 325 328
• White Calamity and Seventh-Order Ascension — Survives the White Calamity with Tomb Realm, develops his own spacetime, and advances to Seventh Order. 407 409
• Ancient Immortal Path and Three Corpses — Cultivates the Ancient Immortal System through his Evil Corpse, attempts to cultivate benevolence, and ultimately severs the Three Corpses to become an Immortal. 536 570 587
• Sealed Spacetime Trial — Reawakens through Lu Shan, adopts a pure-power path, creates new undead from Black Shadows, and returns to the Void as an Eighth-Order existence. 687 688 691 695

Notable Quotes

“Me? Some call me the Darkness of Eternal Silence. Some call me the Lord of the Demon Wheel. But more call me the Dark Lord!” 210

“If you have the guts, descend into the Material Plane. I’ll slaughter you!” 100

Trivia

• The literal translation of Yang Mu’s name is “Wood Beneath the Sun”; Yang Mu chose the name “Yang Mu” as the closest translation he understood. 269
• Yang Mu’s former talents, Entropy Balance and Endless Modification, were pillars of his original rise but were lost after his soul shattered. 1
• He considers most direct melee combat inefficient for a mage and prefers to send undead servants ahead unless he has no other choice. 687 688
• His reputation is so dangerous that some Mage World figures are relieved when they cannot locate him, fearing the consequences of his return. 210