Yu Xiaogang

Biodata

Background / History

Family and reputation

Yu Xiaogang is the youngest son of Yu Yuanzhen, leader of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. Despite his lineage, he remains at Rank 29 for decades. He becomes widely known as “Master,” building his reputation around the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul 39 40 120.

His attempt to marry his cousin Liu Erlong is stopped when their relationship is discovered. Her father, Yu Luomian, subsequently resents him for damaging her marriage prospects. Yu Xiaogang also has a past romantic relationship with Bibi Dong, whose lingering attachment survives until she learns of his later conduct and castration 120 139 140.

Conflict at Shrek Academy

Upon arriving at Shrek, Yu Xiaogang berates Zhao Wuji for allowing Tang San to pursue the Titan Giant Ape. Zhao Wuji challenges him to lead future Soul Ring hunts himself, leaving Yu Xiaogang unable to answer. Yu Xiaogang explains his agitation by calling Tang San the last hope of his life 39.

Flender appoints him to oversee all seven students’ cultivation, but Dai Mubai challenges both his strength and his theoretical credentials. Dai publicly argues that the Ten Core Competencies largely repackage established knowledge, causing Yu Xiaogang to collapse. Tang San challenges Dai to defend his teacher and is swiftly defeated 39 40 41.

The students then choose their instructors:

• Yu Xiaogang: Tang San and Xiao Wu.
• Zhao Wuji: Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, Oscar, Zhu Zhuqing, and Ning Rongrong 41.

Yu Xiaogang had intended the other talented students to support Tang San’s tournament success and thereby vindicate his teaching. Their departure with Dai frustrates that plan. He abandons efforts to have Flender retain them after learning that Dai is a Star Luo prince 53.

Heaven Dou tournament failures

After Shrek merges into Heaven Dou Royal Academy, Yu Xiaogang is invited to lead its tournament team. He arranges for the First and Second Teams to exchange places, allowing Tang San’s lineup to compete in the publicly watched preliminary rounds 104 106.

His tenure opens with three consecutive defeats:

Xue Qinghe initially grants him another chance after academy officials, Tang San, and Yu Tianheng plead on his behalf. Following the third loss, Emperor Xue Ye orders his replacement. Qin Ming takes command and immediately leads the team to six consecutive victories, intensifying public criticism of Yu Xiaogang 115 116 120.

Clan punishment and return

Yu Xiaogang withdraws to Liu Erlong’s residence at Blue Tyrant Academy. As public ridicule spreads to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, Yu Yuanzhen orders Yu Luomian to find him and prevent further disgrace 120.

Yu Luomian confronts him over both his public failures and renewed relationship with Liu Erlong. Ignoring pleas for mercy, he castrates Yu Xiaogang with a Soul Power attack. Yu Xiaogang blames Liu Erlong for his condition before fainting, while Tang San privately vows revenge 121.

News of Tang San’s growing fame revives his interest in the tournament. He returns to the academy lounge, interrupts Qin Ming’s preparations, and attributes Tang San and Yu Tianheng’s victories to his own instruction. At the next match, he repeatedly advertises himself as Tang San’s teacher despite the crowd’s boos 126 127.

Seizing Canghui’s technique

With Flender and Liu Erlong, Yu Xiaogang pressures Canghui Academy into surrendering its Seven-in-One Fusion Skill method. He uses his connections to the Clear Sky Sect and Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan as leverage, then experiments with the method on Heaven Dou’s Second Team 131 139.

The team gains a rudimentary grasp of the technique and prepares it as a finals trump card for Tang San’s Clear Sky Hammer. Canghui secretly complains to the Heaven Dou Holy Temple, and reports of the coercion reach Bibi Dong 131 139.

Rejection in Spirit City

Yu Xiaogang travels ahead to Spirit City and uses Tang Hao’s Elder Token to obtain an audience with Bibi Dong. Believing she still loves him, he seeks her method for surviving Twin Martial Soul cultivation so that Tang San will not die from his body bursting apart 140 141.

Bibi Dong refuses to provide the method unless he joins Spirit Hall. She reveals that she knows Tang San’s identity and warns him to take his disciple away. When Yu Xiaogang threatens Spirit Hall if Tang San is harmed, she orders him beaten and expelled 141.

The guards shatter his right leg and throw him down the Papal Palace steps. Heaven Dou’s delegation later finds him outside the city gates in filthy, tattered clothing. Ye Lingling saves his life, but treatment comes too late to save the use of his right leg 141 142.

Finals and elimination

Flender brings Yu Xiaogang to the finals venue in a wheelchair. After he insults Dai Mubai’s former Shrek companions, Dai secretly breaks the wheelchair’s axle, sending him onto the paving. The guards threaten expulsion when he demands an investigation 146.

The Star Luo Second Team’s display of evolved Martial Souls and high-level cultivation leaves him unable to explain their improvement. Having long sought to evolve his own Martial Soul, he reacts with disbelief and resentment 147 148.

Yu Xiaogang later urges Tang Hao and Tang Xiao to kill Dai Mubai after the tournament and frame Spirit Hall. He presents Dai’s talent, imperial status, and growing network of allies as threats to their factions 154.

During the individual elimination tournament, he interrupts a match and falsely identifies himself as Heaven Dou’s team leader. The referee exposes the claim: Qin Ming holds the position, and Yu Xiaogang has also lost his teaching post. Guards break his remaining intact leg and drag him away as he declares Heaven Dou’s withdrawal from the individual competition 158.

He then urges Tang San to avenge him through the Seven-in-One Fusion Skill. Spirit Hall’s team avoids Tang San’s empowered hammer attacks until the technique becomes unsustainable. All seven Heaven Dou competitors collapse, ending their tournament run 162.

Appearance

Yu Xiaogang has an average build, a sallow complexion, and a rigid face. His upright posture contributes to his stiff, inflexible bearing 39.

• Frequently clasps his hands behind his back and raises his chin to project authority 39 110 127.
• Appears severely bruised and disheveled after his expulsion from Spirit City 142.
• Uses a wooden wheelchair at the finals following the destruction of his right leg 142 146.

Personality

Yu Xiaogang is intensely sensitive about his low cultivation and strongly invested in recognition as a theoretical master. He treats Tang San’s success as a means of disproving his reputation for weakness, and initially regards the other Shrek students as supporting pieces in that effort 39 41 53.

He responds poorly to criticism and competing advice. He dismisses Qin Ming’s recommendations, retaliates through lineup choices when dissatisfied with his students, and repeatedly attempts to escape public humiliation. After losing his position, he returns to claim credit for victories achieved under Qin Ming 114 117 118 119 127.

His reliance on personal relationships extends to seeking Bibi Dong’s cultivation knowledge through their former affection and coercing Canghui through powerful connections. Nevertheless, Tang San and Yu Tianheng remain devoted to him even after his failures 116 120 131 140 141.

Abilities & Skills

Martial Soul theory

Yu Xiaogang claims authorship of the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul. Tang San defends his research as drawing on Soul Ring records accumulated by Spirit Hall and major clans, while Dai Mubai challenges its originality and several of its generalizations 30 40.

• Originality dispute: Dai argues that most principles are standard academy knowledge rather than Yu Xiaogang’s discoveries 40.
• Counterexamples: Dai cites the Clear Sky Hammer, Seven Killings Sword, and Soul Breaking Spear against the claim that Tool Martial Souls are primarily supportive 40.
• Soul Ring limits: His recommended third-ring limit is 1,760 years. Dai disputes treating that figure as universal, arguing that exceptional physiques can exceed it 30.
• Soul Beast identification: He identifies the reported bull-like roar in the Star Dou Great Forest as likely belonging to the Sky Azure Bull Python 39.

Seven-in-One Fusion Skill instruction

After obtaining Canghui’s method through coercion, Yu Xiaogang helps prepare Heaven Dou’s Second Team to channel six members’ Soul Power into Tang San 131 139 162.

• Briefly grants Tang San enough power to unleash his Martial Soul Avatar through the Clear Sky Hammer 162.
• Requires synchronized Soul Power transfer along the team’s formation 162.
• Has limited endurance; Spirit Hall defeats it by scattering and evading until the team can no longer sustain the technique 162.

Cultivation limitations

• Remains a Rank 29 Soul Grandmaster for decades 39 148 157.
• His first Soul Ring hunt with Tang San nearly costs both their lives 39.
• Seeks Martial Soul evolution but cannot explain how Dai Mubai’s companions achieved it 147 148.
• Lacks the knowledge needed to resolve Tang San’s Twin Martial Soul cultivation risks without Bibi Dong’s assistance 140 141.

Equipment / Items

• Tang Hao’s Elder Token — Grants its bearer treatment equivalent to a Spirit Hall elder; Yu Xiaogang uses it to gain entry to the Papal Palace 140.
• Wooden wheelchair — Used after his right-leg injury. Dai Mubai secretly destroys its rear axle at the finals venue; Yu Xiaogang continues using a wheelchair after his other leg is broken 146 158 162.

Relationships

• Tang San — Disciple and principal hope for vindicating his reputation. Tang San repeatedly defends him, seeks revenge for his injuries, and agrees to use the fusion skill to avenge him 39 116 121 162.
• Flender — Longtime companion who appoints him at Shrek, mediates his disputes, and later transports him by wheelchair 39 118 146.
• Liu Erlong — Cousin and former lover with whom he resumes a relationship. She shelters and comforts him, though he blames her after Yu Luomian’s attack 110 120 121.
• Bibi Dong — Former lover. Her remaining attachment disappears after reports of his conduct and castration; she rejects his request for cultivation knowledge and has him expelled 139 140 141.
• Yu Yuanzhen — Father and clan leader, angered by the damage Yu Xiaogang’s failures cause the clan’s reputation 120.
• Yu Luomian — Uncle and Liu Erlong’s father. Castrates him and warns him against further disgracing the clan 120 121.
• Yu Tianheng — Nephew and devoted admirer who supports his leadership and tries to console him after his dismissal 110 116 120.
• Dai Mubai — Adversary who challenges his theories, rejects his instruction, and later becomes the target of his assassination proposal 40 41 154.
• Zhao Wuji — Fellow Shrek instructor whose dispute with Yu Xiaogang precedes the students’ split into separate training groups 39 41.
• Qin Ming — Successor as Heaven Dou’s team leader; his immediate winning streak sharply contrasts with Yu Xiaogang’s three opening defeats 120.
• Tang Hao and Tang Xiao — Powerful allies whom he persuades to target Dai Mubai and frame Spirit Hall for the killing 154.

Notable Quotes

“Do you know what Tang San means to me?! He is the last hope of my life!” 39

“I invented the theory of the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul! Is there anyone in this world who understands Martial Soul cultivation better than I do?!” 40

“Why can their Martial Souls evolve, but mine can’t?” 147