Yu Xiaogang

Biodata

Background

Yu Xiaogang arrives at Notting Academy with Tang San and registers him as a working student. After learning that Jiang Hao and Xiao Wu also have Innate Full Soul Power, he hopes to recruit all three as disciples and use their achievements to vindicate his theories. Tang San accepts him as his teacher, but Jiang Hao and Xiao Wu reject his approach 5 6 8.

Yu later guides Tang San through obtaining a roughly 400-year first Soul Ring. His confidence in the theoretical limit for a first ring is shaken when Jiang Hao displays a thousand-year first ring. During the ensuing fight, Yu intervenes for Tang San and is burned and publicly humiliated by Jiang Hao 16 18 19.

After the academy takes no action against Jiang Hao, Yu decides to leave Notting with Tang San for Shrek Academy, whose dean he describes as a longtime friend. He backs Tang San’s plan to attack Jiang Hao before they depart, while warning him to retreat if it fails. The attack fails, and the pair leave the next morning 20 21.

Appearance

Yu is a lean, middle-aged man with a habitually stiff expression 5 8.

• Hair and facial hair: Close-cropped hair and scruffy stubble 5 8.
• Clothing: Seen wearing a gray robe at Notting Academy 6 8.

Personality

Yu takes considerable pride in his reputation as a theorist and expects gifted children to value his guidance. He reacts angrily when Jiang Hao questions both his research and his level-29 cultivation, then boasts that Tang San will surpass him. Tang San’s success with his first Soul Ring briefly reinforces Yu’s confidence; Jiang Hao’s older ring and their public defeat leave him bitter 6 9 16 18 20.

Abilities & Skills

Martial-soul theory

• Yu advises Tang San on Soul Ring cultivation and celebrates his roughly 400-year first ring as near the limit he accepts for a first Soul Ring 16.
• He states that a first ring older than 432 years would destroy its bearer, a claim contradicted by Jiang Hao’s thousand-year first ring 18.
• He warns Tang San against cultivating both martial souls at once and advises him not to expose the Clear Sky Hammer 21.

Cultivation

• Yu identifies himself as a level-29 Soul Grandmaster. No advancement is documented in the provided chapters 9.

Relationships

• Tang San — His disciple. Yu guides his cultivation, defends him during the fight with Jiang Hao, and leaves Notting Academy with him 6 18 21.
• Jiang Hao — A student Yu tries to recruit. Jiang challenges his theories and authority, then burns and humiliates him during Tang San’s Spirit Fight 8 9 19.
• Xiao Wu — A prospective disciple who rejects his approach. Yu incorrectly guesses that her unusual talent means she has Twin Martial Souls 6 8.
• Shrek Academy’s dean — A longtime friend whom Yu cites as the reason he can take Tang San to Shrek 20.

Notable Quotes

“A first Soul Ring older than four hundred and thirty-two years will cause the body to explode! That’s an iron law, the result of more than half a lifetime of my research!” 18

“You may question it, but you must never try it.” 21