Xiang Shan

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Xiang Shan (向山); recalls the name “Xiang Shan Nan Yue” 7
Alias(es)	Yawg (a name he rejects) 7 8
Species/Race	Cybernetic human; biological brain housed in a prosthetic body
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Vagrants; knight-errant tradition
Occupation/Role	Knight-errant, cyber martial artist, programmer, mentor
Status	Alive; treating the critically injured Youji while stranded awaiting Mule 50
First Appearance	Chapter 7: “Defeat That Lasted a Century”

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Seed of Inner Power	12	Builds a mechanical Turing Machine and uses its halting-command visualization to form a “seed of inner strength,” enabling him to test whether reality is an illusion.
Restored knightly Inner Power	21	Rebuilds a terminal and firewall, reconstructs Will Grand Dog’s driver chip, and reconnects it to his biological brain; limited by insufficient chip performance.
Recovered combat prosthetic	21, 28	Incorporates Will’s heat engine, battery, artificial muscle fibers, and driver components into a new body; completes installation of upgraded legs while Youji is threatened.
Partial recovery of former cultivation	35	Recovers part of his Inner Power, particularly the Three Dragon-Slaying Techniques.
Beginner Inner Power transmitted	36	Confirms that Youji has learned the foundational algorithm and may eventually complete Inner Power’s introductory stage without guidance.
Advanced counter-hacking capability	48	Uses Inner Power to penetrate the welfare officer’s systems and disrupt the surrounding guards through their networked prosthetics.

Background

Xiang Shan awakens in a ruined future with almost no autobiographical memory, inhabiting a crude prosthetic body and initially being called “Yawg.” After defeating the martial-artist cyborg Will Grand Dog through predictive movement rather than speed or strength, he suffers a violent emotional breakdown over an ancient defeat he believes may have shaped human history. Unable to cry in his mechanical body, he repeatedly strikes his own torso to simulate a heartbeat. 7

He later recovers his own name, Xiang Shan, and the name of his enemy, Yogmov Voigt. Neither name is remembered by Youji or preserved in local history. Learning that the current era is Year 209 after the Sublimation War convinces him that he has been absent far longer than expected. 8

His past self deliberately removed declarative memories from his biological brain and stored them externally, retaining technical knowledge, non-declarative memory, and martial instincts. The external storage devices are missing, leaving him able to remember programming, engineering, and combat without recalling his own life, friends, or motives. 8 37 38

Xiang Shan identifies himself as a formidable Vagrant and rebuilds his strength by salvaging parts and martial algorithms from defeated enemies. He comes to believe that his lost self prepared this amnesia as a defense against hackers and tyranny, preserving the ability to continue resisting even at the cost of his identity. 8 37 38

Appearance

Xiang Shan’s body is assembled from mismatched prosthetic components of different eras and quality levels. His biological brain remains his most important surviving organic component.

• Early body: an extremely low-performance, stick-like prosthetic frame; at one point, his exposed cranial interface is protected by a kettle lid. 8
• Rebuilt body: artificial-muscle legs with reverse joints, a chest-mounted battery and heat engine, and salvaged components from Will Grand Dog. 21 34
• Right arm: initially damaged during the fight with Leif; later replaced with Longkoni’s superior electromagnetic blade arm. 30 34
• Later armor: slim matte-black outer armor with bulkier chest and back machinery, painted to reduce the risk of orbital surveillance. 40
• Sensory limitations: lacks smell, taste, and temperature sensation in his prosthetic body. 15

Personality

Xiang Shan is analytical, guarded, and intensely principled. He treats martial arts as technology meant to give the weak a chance against tyranny, not as a justification for domination. He is willing to use lethal violence against oppressors and bandits, but distinguishes that violence from cruelty pursued for pleasure. 13 36 48

His amnesia leaves him emotionally unstable when confronted with fragments of his past. His vocalizer often fails to convey his feelings, and his mechanical body cannot express grief naturally. Despite this detachment, he forms genuine attachments to Youji and the town that sheltered him. 7 10 38 40

He is highly suspicious of surveillance, backdoors, and unsecured hardware. Even when Doctor Schultz assists him, Xiang Shan checks repaired prosthetics for hidden intrusions before trusting them. 15 20 35

Abilities & Skills

Cyber Martial Arts

Xiang Shan combines prosthetic-body control, physics, predictive calculation, and traditional combat principles into highly adaptive close-range martial arts.

• Predicted Will Grand Dog’s movements despite inferior speed and strength, then electrocuted him through his air intake. 7
• Uses the Bionic Fist Technique: Beast Mimic Way, though his humanoid body cannot fully exploit its animal-style movement advantages. 31
• Applies the Three Dragon-Slaying Techniques, which return to him as instinctive memory fragments. 30 35
• Uses True-Force Discharge and precision kicks to breach armor, destroy weapons, and dismantle opponents. 33
• Can assess enemy prosthetic design, output, balance, and fighting style during combat. 29 31

Inner Power

For Xiang Shan, Inner Power is computational and hacking ability supported by a biological brain, a chip, and a firewall-like “dantian.”

• Built a mechanical Turing Machine as a visualization device for awakening Inner Power. 10 12
• Reprograms crude or unencapsulated driver chips and removes surveillance backdoors. 16 20
• Repackages hostile code and returns it to attackers, activating old backdoors in Leif and Jingbao Kui’s systems. 30
• Can use electromagnetic signals and artificial eyes to infiltrate enemy cybernetics. 48
• His present output is constrained by the quality and power of available chips. 21

Supersonic Movement

His artificial-muscle legs and heat engine allow explosive bursts of movement approaching or exceeding the speed of sound.

• Uses supersonic movement to evade long-range sniper fire and cross several kilometers toward Geliad. 42 43 44
• Treats air as a rigid surface at extreme speed, allowing midair directional changes. 42
• Uses wreckage, dust clouds, pauses, and sudden acceleration to disrupt drone-assisted targeting. 43

Engineering and Programming

Xiang Shan retains exceptional technical knowledge despite losing his personal memories.

• Rebuilds terminals from bare machines and writes underlying code largely through subconscious instinct. 19
• Salvages and integrates artificial muscles, batteries, engines, driver chips, and armor from defeated martial artists. 15 21
• Understands low-level driver code that should be inaccessible to an ordinary user of the era’s technology. 15 16
• Teaches Youji programming, mathematics, Turing-machine structure, and foundational Inner Power algorithms. 10 19 36

Memory Extraction and Visualization

Xiang Shan can access memory storage devices and absorb portions of others’ memories, but the process is dangerous.

• Reads Will Grand Dog’s memories to learn about the current era and enemy martial arts. 28 29
• Uses a scientific visualization method to resist personality overwrite from foreign memories. 28
• Reviews Leif’s memories and rejects the Z Organization’s conditioning through shared atrocities. 36
• Foreign memories can cause emotional overload and leave lingering psychological influence. 28 36

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Matte-black prosthetic armor — Reforged body shell intended to reduce detection by orbital surveillance. 40
• Artificial-muscle reverse-jointed legs — High-output legs powered by Will Grand Dog’s salvaged heat engine and battery. 21 34
• Longkoni’s prosthetic arm — Electromagnetic arm built for magnetic blade combat; replaced Xiang Shan’s damaged right arm. 34
• Turing Machine — Crude mechanical computer built from scrap; used to visualize and construct the seed of Inner Power. 10 12
• Mule — Quadrupedal pack robot built from Leif’s leg components and Longkoni’s driver chip; carries supplies and can serve as a spare body. 40
• Iron Blossom — Conductive metal-particle aerosol used to obstruct wireless communication and conceal movement. 46 48
• Salvaged chips and storage devices — Taken from enemies for martial algorithms, intelligence, and prosthetic upgrades. 34 46 50

Relationships

• Youji — His apprentice and the first person he trusts with his identity. Xiang Shan teaches him programming, Inner Power, and knight-errant philosophy, while repeatedly trying to keep him away from his dangerous path. 8 12 37 49
• Yulia — Youji’s mother and guardian. She fears Xiang Shan’s influence and danger, while he respects her authority over Youji and ultimately risks himself to save her son. 35 40 49
• Doctor Schultz — Prosthetic technician and cautious local ally. Schultz supplies parts, performs repairs, and provides information, but remains wary of Xiang Shan. 8 34 35
• The Mayor — A pragmatic town leader who seeks Xiang Shan’s protection against bandits. Their cooperation is useful but uneasy, especially after Xiang Shan kills captured attackers. 15 21 33
• Will Grand Dog — Martial-artist cyborg defeated and dismantled by Xiang Shan. Will’s body, driver chip, and memories become vital resources for Xiang Shan’s reconstruction. 7 15 28
• Leif Sjelett — Z Organization martial artist known as “Silver Drive Shaft.” He kidnaps Youji, attempts to recruit Xiang Shan, and is killed after their battle. 29 33
• Geliad — Leader of the Z Organization and a Gunfire Way specialist. Xiang Shan defeats him after surviving a drone-assisted extreme-range ambush. 41 46
• Enoch — Town traitor who helped arrange Xiang Shan’s original forced entry into the fighting ring, later joins the Z Organization, and repeatedly blames Xiang Shan for his own failures. 35 41
• Yogmov Voigt — Xiang Shan’s forgotten enemy and probable victor of the ancient duel that haunts him. Xiang Shan believes Yogmov may still be alive. 7 8
• Father of All Machines — Xiang Shan’s probable ultimate enemy and the tyrannical figure he resolves to reach by defeating oppressors one by one. 35 37
• Alster Grand Daug — The “Mad Hound,” a dog-shaped Bionic Fist grandmaster hunting Xiang Shan for breaking the Bionic Fist Technique without algorithms. 39 49

Story Role / Major Arcs

Awakening and Identity Recovery

After defeating Will Grand Dog, Xiang Shan begins recovering fragments of his name, his historic defeat, and his enemy. He discovers that history has erased both him and Yogmov Voigt, prompting him to investigate the era and his own missing past. 7 8

Teaching Youji and Rebuilding Inner Power

Xiang Shan accepts Youji as an apprentice, teaches him the Turing Machine’s importance, and defines Vagrants as defenders of universal freedom rather than people who simply “do whatever they want.” He rebuilds a firewall, modifies Youji’s chip to remove surveillance risks, and reconstructs his own combat body from Will’s remains. 10 12 20 21

Z Organization Assault

When Leif kidnaps Youji to lure him out, Xiang Shan completes his upgraded legs and enters battle. He rejects Leif’s Greenwood Road recruitment offer, counter-hacks Jingbao Kui, and kills Leif, Jingbao Kui, Longkoni, and other attackers. 28 30 33

Departure from Recycling Station Town

Feared by much of the town after destroying Longkoni’s biological brain, Xiang Shan prepares to leave once protection is restored. He refuses to take Youji into the wilderness, believing the child is too young to make an unregretted choice about knight-errantry. 34 37 40

Conflict with Geliad and the Welfare Officer

His planned departure is interrupted by Enoch, Geliad, and a welfare officer’s forces. Xiang Shan defeats Geliad’s long-range Gunfire Way body, exposes the Demon Cult’s biological weaponry, overpowers twenty-five enhanced guards, and escapes with the severely injured Youji. 41 46 48 49

Notable Quotes

“I lost... I lost! I lost! I lost! I... I lost!” 7

“Martial arts are a form of assassination technique. They allow the weak, at the smallest cost, to gain the chance to raise a sword against the strong.” 13

“I am the number one thug under heaven—because knight-errantry is violence! It is the violent action of the masses striking back against brutality!” 48

Trivia

• Xiang Shan considers the Turing Machine’s structure more important than its scrap-metal materials and makes Youji memorize and rebuild it repeatedly. 10 14
• He suspects the damaged moon and its faint ring may indicate either a catastrophic historical event or that he is in a parallel world. 10
• His early prosthetic body was so poor that he rated it at roughly one point against Will Grand Dog’s hundred-point body. 31
• He regards the Father of All Machines as the most likely explanation for why he returned to life in the current era. 35