Jiang Ziya

Biodata

Background / History

Jiang Ziya came from another world and entered Huo Yuhao’s Sea of Consciousness through a patterned stone sphere Yuhao found before his Martial Soul awakening. He improved Yuhao’s body, helping him awaken with Innate Full Soul Power despite his poor health. Later, Jiang used an escape technique to get Yuhao and his mother out of the Duke’s Estate, exhausting his remaining strength and falling asleep 2 10.

When Yuhao obtained his first Spirit Ring, Jiang awoke and took him as his disciple. He used one of Tian Meng’s ten clusters of Origin to shape Yuhao’s blank Second Martial Soul into Four-Not-Like, an auspicious beast based on Jiang’s former junior fellow disciple. A drop of that disciple’s blood activated the Martial Soul’s traits, leaving Yuhao with antlers he could not immediately retract 10 11 12.

Jiang later supported Tian Meng’s God-Making Plan. His confidence that the Snow Empress could become a god helped persuade her to join, and he stood guard during the Ice Empress’s dangerous fusion with Yuhao. While guarding them, he explained that the gods he appointed in his world held duties toward mortals; he himself had never become a god 22 23 24.

In his account of the investiture, Jiang explained that his master and two martial uncles had selected the recipients of the 360 divine positions. His task was to kill those people during a war, or arrange for others to do so, before appointing them as gods. There was no position reserved for him. He distinguished these duty-bound gods from the Immortals of his world, who could possess longevity and great strength while remaining beyond heaven’s jurisdiction 24.

Jiang’s earlier personal history included leaving the mountain in his seventies and marrying a woman in her sixties, who later drove him out of their home 74.

After Huo Yun’er died, Jiang could not restore her life, but he drew out her soul to preserve it. He and Electrolux fought two divine traces attempting to seize it, eventually overcoming them with help from an energy rising from the ground. The effort depleted Jiang’s power, and he fell dormant to recover 34 35.

Jiang identified the attacking powers as originating from the Divine Realm and detected that the gray-white power resonated with Yuhao’s bloodline. This led Yuhao to suspect Dai Mubai and Tang San. Jiang also revealed that Yuhao was the world’s Child of Destiny, suggesting that the attackers might have acted because they recognized his potential. Huo Yun’er’s rescued soul was placed in Electrolux’s Minor Grotto-Heaven 34 35.

By Yuhao’s early days at Shrek Academy, Jiang and Electrolux had awakened. Jiang comforted his disciple over the hardship of the intervening years and promised that they would remain with him. The two elders subsequently helped investigate possible connections to Tang San: they detected his aura on Wang Dong and recognized her damaged soul, then discovered a dormant soul connected to him inside the Golden Ancient Tree 41 43 53.

During Yuhao’s later visit to the Star Dou Great Forest, Jiang assured him that accepting Di Tian’s invitation to meet the forest’s Master would bring a fortuitous opportunity. At the Lake of Life, Jiang and Electrolux appeared before Gu Yuena and the Ferocious Beasts to introduce the Soul Spirit Contract method, offering a way for Soul Masters to obtain Spirit Rings without killing Soul Beasts 89 92.

The elders successfully demonstrated the method by joining their arrays around Yuhao and a forty-thousand-year Silver Hero Beast. The resulting partnership gave Yuhao his fourth Spirit Ring and raised him to level forty-one, while the beast, named Xiao Yin, grew larger and more intelligent. Jiang subsequently described the technique as unfinished; Electrolux explained that their intended improvement was to let one contracted Soul Beast provide multiple Spirit Rings rather than only one 92 93 94.

When Four-Not-Like unexpectedly began absorbing Gu Yuena’s reverse scale, Jiang emerged to reassure the onlookers. He explained that the Martial Soul’s True Dragon and qilin heritage had drawn it to the elemental Origin within the scale. The absorption completed its five elemental attributes as ultimate attributes, accomplishing at once what he had originally intended Yuhao to achieve one attribute at a time 98.

Appearance

Jiang appears as an elderly man in a yellow robe 10.

• White hair and beard, with bright eyes 10.
• Carries a white whisk when he emerges from Yuhao’s Sea of Consciousness 22.

Power Progression

Abilities & Skills

Escape and body refinement

• Teleported Yuhao and Huo Yun’er away from the Duke’s Estate, but the technique exhausted him in his weakened state 2.
• Improved Yuhao’s body before his awakening; Yuhao’s meridians later underwent cleansing by both Jiang and Tian Meng 10 24.

Martial Soul creation and spells

• Fashioned Yuhao’s Four-Not-Like Martial Soul from a blank Martial Soul using part of Tian Meng’s Origin and auspicious-beast blood 11 12 22.
• Taught Yuhao an Illusion Spell that he used to disguise his first Spirit Ring’s color 12.
• Continued teaching Yuhao spells during the months after his second Spirit Ring hunt 32.
• Provided an Aura-Concealing Technique that concealed Yuhao’s auspicious aura from the Star Dou Great Forest’s Ferocious Beasts. The Three-Eyed Golden Lion could still sense him because, according to Jiang, her destiny was the same as his; Jiang maintained that the technique had not failed 87 88.
• Explained that Four-Not-Like was born from a True Dragon and a qilin, inheriting the former’s bloodline power and the latter’s five-element power. He understood how Gu Yuena’s reverse scale could complete its five ultimate elemental attributes, having originally planned a gradual, attribute-by-attribute completion 98.

Spiritual and soul techniques

• Conjures golden chains in Yuhao’s Sea of Consciousness, using them to silence or restrain Tian Meng 10 20.
• Drew Huo Yun’er’s soul from her body and fought to keep divine forces from taking it. As a remnant soul, he could not revive her, and expending power left him needing prolonged rest 34 35.
• Forms and controls a whisk made of magical power in combat. It weakened the blue-gold Divine Power attacking Huo Yun’er’s soul, but the second divine trace destroyed it 34.
• Can perceive divine auras and bloodline resonance. He recognized the Divine Realm origin of the powers targeting Huo Yun’er and detected Tang San’s aura on Wang Dong and on a soul within the Golden Ancient Tree 34 43 53.
• Alongside Electrolux, recognized that Wang Dong’s soul had been forcibly torn apart. He judged from her aura that she was probably Tang San’s direct descendant 43.
• Distinguished the Golden Ancient Tree’s own soul from a second, dormant soul connected to Tang San. He also noted that the strand of divine consciousness within Wang Dong was dormant 53.
• Detected no trace of Tang San’s aura on Ning Tian, reassuring Yuhao that he need not treat her as another suspected contingency 72.
• Uses the spiritual power within Yuhao’s Sea of Consciousness to create tea and utensils for his conversations with Electrolux 61.

Soul Spirit Contract method

Jiang co-developed the Soul Spirit Contract method with Electrolux, combining beast-control spells from the Nine Provinces, contract magic from Electrolux’s world, and Tian Meng’s demonstrated sacrifice method. Jiang’s native beast-control tradition was associated with the ancient sage of the Dragon-Taming Clan, who was said to have commanded divine dragons 92.

• Establishes a partnership between a Soul Master and a Soul Beast, allowing the Soul Master to obtain a Spirit Ring without killing the beast 92 93.
• Allows the Soul Master to communicate with the contracted beast and choose any Soul Skill the beast possesses for the resulting Spirit Ring 93.
• Creates a black-and-white yin-yang fish array with his whisk. During the demonstration, this merged with Electrolux’s six-pointed-star array to complete the contract 93.
• Enables mutual nourishment between the partners and promotes the Soul Beast’s intelligence. Xiao Yin’s successful contract also increased her size 93.
• Remained unfinished after its first demonstration: each Soul Beast could provide only one Spirit Ring. The developers intended to expand this to multiple Spirit Rings from one beast 94.

Power and limitations

• His remaining power is a limited reserve that cannot be replenished quickly, making heavy expenditure dangerous despite his extensive knowledge and techniques 34.
• Considered the two divine traces that attacked Huo Yun’er insignificant compared with his strength in life, and believed he would not have feared their owners appearing in person. This was his own assessment rather than a demonstrated confrontation in his living state 34.
• Di Tian could not discern his cultivation despite possessing eight hundred thousand years of cultivation. Gu Yuena judged from the two elders’ auras and divine senses that their cultivation in life had been extraordinary 92.
• After recovering, he did not need ordinary sleep, although leaving Yuhao’s Sea of Consciousness remained inconvenient 61.

Personality & Views

• Responsibility-centered view of godhood: Rejects the idea that godhood is defined merely by eternal life and absolute power. In his world, gods must fulfill their duties toward mortals or face punishment 24.
• Supportive teacher: Treats Yuhao with warmth and tenderness, acknowledges his hardships, and reassures him after awakening from his recovery 41.
• Pragmatic use of equipment: Regards Soul Tools as comparable to magical treasures and finds the Douluo Continent’s prejudice against them unreasonable. His own combat experience in the Nine Provinces included using magical treasures against opponents 54.
• Humorous manner: Frequently silences Tian Meng’s interruptions and teases Yuhao about naming his gourd-shaped Soul Tool after Lu Ya’s Immortal Slaying Flying Knife 10 20 54 61.
• Confidence in fate and opportunity: Believed Ma Xiaotao and Yuhao were bound by fate and declined to interrupt their evil-fire suppression. He also encouraged Yuhao to meet the Star Dou Great Forest’s Master because a fortuitous opportunity awaited him 54 89.

Relationships

• Huo Yuhao — His disciple. Jiang helped him awaken, rescued him and his mother, created his Second Martial Soul, and offered a way to preserve Huo Yun’er’s soul 2 10 11 34. After recovering, he resumed his role as a comforting elder and adviser, helped Yuhao investigate divine interference, and guided his first Soul Spirit Contract 41 43 53 93.
• Tian Meng — A fellow participant in the God-Making Plan. Jiang used one of Tian Meng’s Origin clusters for Yuhao’s Martial Soul; their exchanges often involve Jiang restraining the talkative silkworm 10 11 20 22. Tian Meng’s sacrifice method later became one foundation of the Soul Spirit Contract technique 92.
• Snow Empress — Trusted Jiang’s assurance that the plan could lead to godhood and stood guard alongside him during the Ice Empress’s fusion 23 24.
• Electrolux — An otherworldly presence Jiang initially allowed to remain in Yuhao’s Sea of Consciousness. They later worked together to protect Huo Yun’er’s soul 10 34. After awakening, they regularly brewed tea and discussed the Dao, investigated spiritual threats to Yuhao, and jointly developed and demonstrated the Soul Spirit Contract method 43 53 61 92 93 94.
• Huo Yun’er — Yuhao’s mother; Jiang rescued her from the Duke’s Estate and later helped preserve her soul after her death 2 34.
• Xu Jiujiu — Considered her a good match for Yuhao after observing their growing affection 17.
• Ice Empress — His history of appointing gods helped establish the credibility of the God-Making Team. She later accepted his assurance that Yuhao and Ma Xiaotao were bound by fate 22 54.
• Ma Xiaotao — Believed she and Yuhao shared a fated connection and chose not to interrupt Yuhao’s attempt to suppress her evil fire 54.
• Wang Dong — Detected Tang San’s aura on her and, together with Electrolux, recognized her forcibly damaged soul. Jiang considered her likely to be Tang San’s direct descendant 43.
• Gu Yuena — Presented the Soul Spirit Contract method to her as a way to obtain Spirit Rings without killing Soul Beasts. She recognized his extraordinary otherworldly background and praised the elders’ work. Jiang later explained why her reverse scale was transforming Yuhao’s Martial Soul 92 94 98.
• Di Tian — Initially reacted defensively when Jiang and Electrolux emerged, but stood down at Gu Yuena’s order. He then helped prepare the Silver Hero Beast for the elders’ contract demonstration 92 93.
• Di Qiu’er / Three-Eyed Golden Lion — Could sense Yuhao despite Jiang’s concealment technique because of their matching destiny. Jiang later reassured her that Yuhao’s reverse-scale absorption would not delay her planned visit to the human world 88 98.
• Lu Ya — An acquaintance from his original world. Jiang’s stories inspired Yuhao to name a gourd-shaped Soul Tool the Immortal Slaying Flying Knife, prompting Jiang to joke about Lu Ya’s possible reaction 61.
• Li Jing — An old acquaintance whom Jiang recalled upon seeing Ning Tian’s pagoda Martial Soul 73.

Notable Quotes

“However, I once appointed three hundred and sixty Righteous Gods.” 22

“A god bears responsibility!” 24

“I am but a remnant soul now. I cannot bring the dead back to life.” 34

“Yuhao, are the people in your world all uncivilized barbarians? What's wrong with having one more magical treasure in a fight?” 54

“I wonder whether you would be interested in a spell that allows one to obtain Spirit Rings without killing Soul Beasts, Fellow Daoist Gu.” 92

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