Li Xiang

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Li Xiang (李想) 1
Alias(es)	Little Li; Martial Uncle Li; Captain Li 1 36 192
Gender	Male 1
Affiliation	Shocking Heron Martial Hall; Military Intelligence Bureau (Juntong) 34 223
Occupation/Role	Former owner of a funeral-clothing shop and embalmer; martial cultivator; captain of a Military Intelligence Special Operations Team 1 223 224
First Appearance	Chapter 1, “The Young Owner of the Funeral Clothing Shop” 1

Power Progression

Li Xiang’s Book of a Hundred Trades records experience and advancement across multiple professions. The rows below cover documented milestones, not every level gained between them 1 20.

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Embalmer Lv10	1	Reaches the milestone through corpse stitching; unlocks Soul-Summoning Hand 1 2.
Cook Lv5	4	Unlocks Hundred-Flavor Tongue after preparing a meal 4.
Fortune Teller Lv1–2	5	Unlocks the profession and its Reading People trait through dockside practice 5.
Painter Lv5	20	Unlocks Bone-Drawing; applies painterly control to boxing 20.
Boxer Lv3	29	Gains twenty experience points during a Dragon-Tiger Bone-Tempering Soup bath 29.
Cook Lv10	44	Reaches the milestone while helping Hong Tianbao cook; unlocks Abundant Harvest 44.
Model Lv1	54	Unlocks Thousand Faces after modeling at a fashion show 49 54.
Boxer Lv5	64	Unlocks Tiger-Leopard Thunderclap during a spar with Ye Qingyao 64.
Painter Lv10	91	A portrait painted for Qin Zhong’s dying great-grandmother unlocks Soul Painting 91.
Embalmer Rank 1, Lv11	92 93	Completes the Joyful Funeral advancement ritual; unlocks Revolving Lantern 92 93.
Paper Effigy Maker advancement	102	Gains spirit-communing and paper-folding techniques, plus Paper Fiend Replaces the Corpse 102.
Boxer Lv10	109	Reaches the milestone and examines advanced profession paths 109.
Beast Tamer Lv5	152	Unlocks Beast Blood Boiling through training Tiger Million 152.
Daoist unlocked	152	Study of the Yellow Court Inner Landscape Scripture grants the Inner Landscape trait 152.
Paper Effigy Maker Lv15	155	Unlocks Paper Healing Technique during the Blackwater Swamp battle 155.
Daoist trait: intermediate Inner Landscape	175	Xuanhuang Mother Qi expands and solidifies his inner world 175.
Daoist Lv12	176	Rises from Lv8 after the Inner Landscape changes; unlocks Dharma Eye 176.
Physician Lv10	181	Battlefield treatment unlocks Blood-Locking Stitch and the path toward Warrior 181.
Warrior unlocked	183	Endures the Five-Colored Divine Fire and establishes his Martial Principles; gains Blood Qi Like a Furnace 182 183.
Daoist Lv13	184	Advances through further study of the Yellow Court Inner Landscape Scripture 184.
Swordsman Lv2	192	Reaches the level through regular sword practice 192.
Swordsman Lv5	199	Defeating Ayi Guli unlocks Sword Qi Thunderclap 199 200.
Daoist Lv15	208	Gains Daoist experience after defeating Zhang Qilan 208.
Boxer Second Realm	213	Winning the First Realm final completes his ritual; Coiling Dragon Tendons strengthens his movements 213.
Warrior Lv15	216	Reaches the milestone while working within the Toad Swallowing the Moon Formation 216.
Warrior Lv16	217	Gains experience during the prolonged Feng Shui advancement ritual 217.
Feng Shui Master Second Realm, Lv21	217	Reverses an ill-omened earth vein using his body as the formation’s anchor; unlocks Dragon-Seeking Instinct 177 217.
Warrior Lv19	255	Advances while deciphering the Thirty-Six Forms of Azure Dragon Saber from Guan Yue’s footwork trial 255.
Clear Force → Hidden Force	231	An insight connecting martial and Heart Cultivation lets his punches transmit force inward 231.

Background and History

Li Xiang arrives in the Great Xin Dynasty and takes over the funeral-clothing shop in Blackwater Ancient Town. Its former owner’s grandfather had disappeared while delivering a body. Li Xiang keeps the shop running through embalming work, treating careful preparation as both respect for the dead and protection against resentful corpses 1.

His work draws him into supernatural danger when Black Tiger Army officer Wang Shuo brings him a violently animated corpse. Li Xiang subdues it and seals the coffin, but a flesh-and-metal Golden Cicada taken from the body enters his own. The cicada later helps him withstand medicinal toxins and destructive bodily tempering 2 3 4 29.

After leaving Blackwater, Li Xiang joins Hong Tianbao’s Shocking Heron Martial Hall. He pursues martial cultivation while continuing to develop trades recorded by the Book of a Hundred Trades. He wins the First Realm final of the Spirit Ruins Blessed Land Contest, advances his Boxer profession, and subsequently becomes a Juntong Special Operations Team captain 20 213 223.

In the Netherworld, Li Xiang finds that his senior brother Qin Zhong has become Yin Tianzi. Later, while investigating a proposed means of restoring Qin Zhong, he discovers a living, soulless body made in his own likeness. Ye Ducheng identifies its surrounding formation as a Substitute Death Formation intended to take a foretold fatal calamity in Li Xiang’s place 282 322 323.

Appearance

Li Xiang is described as a handsome, refined-looking young man; opponents can underestimate his physical strength because of his slender build 49 183 202.

• Distinguishing features — Dark eyes and an upright bearing 183 199.
• Notable attire — Wears gold-rimmed glasses while modeling; ordinarily carries the Ghost-Slaying Blade at his waist 49 183.

Personality

Li Xiang is cautious about powerful people and hidden risks, often investigating or divining a situation before committing himself. He conceals valuable gains when revealing them would invite danger 1 97 155. In combat, that caution becomes adaptability rather than hesitation: he studies opponents, interrupts dangerous techniques, and combines disciplines when a direct approach is insufficient 199 205.

He takes pride in giving the dead dignity, including victims whose lives received little respect. He can also be ruthless toward attackers. When he tends the bodies of five assassins, onlookers take it for mercy, while he is actually reading their memories to identify their employer 5 14 184. His loyalty is strongest toward his companions: he shields his group when Qin Zhong’s Netherworld authority nearly overwhelms them and later works to rescue him 282 317.

Abilities and Skills

Embalming and the dead

• Corpse Sense and Soul-Summoning Hand — Detects danger from corpses and can force an animated corpse dormant long enough to secure it 2 3.
• Revolving Lantern — By touching and soothing a body, briefly observes one of the deceased’s most deeply imprinted memories; he uses it to identify the person behind an assassination attempt 93 184.

Martial cultivation

• Dragon Force and Xingyi Five Elements Fist — Fuses the five elemental martial forces and adapts their principles to other attacks. The Dragon Pearl stores and replenishes energy 155 172 206.
• Physical resilience — The Golden Cicada filters harmful medicinal force; later Warrior and Boxer traits give him intense blood qi, strong defenses, and explosive tendon-driven movement 29 183 213.
• Danger sense — Autumn Wind Stirs Not, Cicada Senses First alerts his body to nearby threats before conscious recognition 180.

Daoist and Feng Shui arts

• Inner Landscape — Provides a private inner world for recovery, comprehension, and storage. After absorbing Xuanhuang Mother Qi, it gains tangible soil, domain projection, and accelerated herb growth 152 175 176.
• Dharma Eye and terrain reading — Reveals energy flows, illusions, and traces of recent events; Feng Shui arts let him exploit earth veins and identify terrain’s life and death gates. Dharma Eye use is mentally taxing 176 205 217.

Paper effigies and other trades

• Paper Effigy Maker — Creates spirit-communing paper figures that can fold into portable forms. A fate-linked substitute can take a fatal blow for him, but is costly and works only within a limited range 102.
• Painting, medicine, and swordsmanship — Soul Painting lends spiritual force to portraits; Blood-Locking Stitch rapidly seals bleeding wounds; Sword Qi Thunderclap adds a destructive thunderclap to a swift strike 91 181 200.

Equipment, Weapons and Items

• Book of a Hundred Trades — Tracks Li Xiang’s professions, experience, traits, and advancement requirements 1 93.
• Ghost-Slaying Blade — His principal blade; its second seal calls forth a Ghost Bride and a domain that cuts an opponent off from surrounding spiritual energy 183 207 208.
• Golden Cicada — A relic within his body that converts harmful forces into nourishment and can form a restorative Gold-Thread Jade Suit 4 29 190.
• Golden Qilin ornament — A Treasury selection connected to a reported matching ornament owned by Ye Qingyao 172 175.
• Sword Mound token — Given to him by Xiang Tiange after their tournament final as an invitation to the Sword Mound 213.

Relationships

• Hong Tianbao — Master at Shocking Heron Martial Hall; funds and guides Li Xiang’s early training while warning him against reckless advancement 25 29 184.
• Qin Zhong — Senior martial brother and close friend. Li Xiang helps bury Qin’s great-grandmother and later seeks to rescue him after his rise as Yin Tianzi 92 282 317.
• Ye Qingyao — Senior martial sister and demanding sparring partner whose instruction contributes to his tournament victory; her family’s matchmaking claims unsettle them both 40 175 213.
• Lin Xuanshu — Daoist ally who recognizes Li Xiang’s abilities early and later cooperates with him in dangerous expeditions 7 206 275.
• Zhang Yunshang — Juntong superior who appoints him to the Special Operations Team and oversees his official work 223 224.
• Guo Kai — Team member who asks to serve under Li Xiang after their martial encounter 229 231.
• Zhang Qilan — Defeated tournament rival who joins Li Xiang’s team hoping that further challenges will resolve his Heart Demon 208 224.
• Miao Xiyue — Ally who entrusts him with a Tracking Gu and later fights beside him; their reunion in Yiling draws teasing from her cousin 152 240 271.
• Pei Yanlai — City God Headquarters elder who blocks Li Xiang’s access to the Nine Nether Force manual and orders an assassination attempt against him 184 185.

Notable Quotes

“Rules are rules. This is a shroud shop, not the Yellow Dog Gang’s backyard.” 2

“A man born between heaven and earth cannot spend his life beneath others.” 82

“Since you have such courage, Brother Zhang, we’ll fight shoulder to shoulder on this journey to Linjiang!” 317