Clouded Deer

Biodata

Background / History

The Clouded Deer has spent years protecting her daughter, Xiao Yao, from Spirit Hall. Human Soul Masters killed Xiao Yao’s father the year before her introduction. She preserved part of his antler by carving it into a comb for their daughter 13 15.

Her home is Spirit Creek Valley, a hidden sanctuary containing nearly a hundred intelligent Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. Its inhabitants recognize her as their chief and Xiao Yao as the young chief 15.

She describes her clan’s long lives as constrained by an invisible boundary: generations remain tied to the valley, eventually aging and returning to nature. The clan’s legend of “God,” a being beyond mortal life and death, inspires her hope of escaping those limitations 16.

Appearance

• Deer form: Snow-white fur, hooves, and pale-gold blood 13 14.
• Human form: Described as elegant, surrounded by a faint glow associated with auspiciousness and wisdom 18.
• Injuries after Spirit Hall’s attack: An empty left eye socket, numerous bleeding wounds, and severely depleted Soul Power. These describe her condition during the rescue, not an established permanent appearance 14.

Personality

The Clouded Deer is fiercely protective of Xiao Yao. Even when critically wounded, she shields her daughter with her body and warns her to flee. She calls the child “all I have left,” placing her safety above her own hostility toward humans 13 14 15.

Her distrust comes from repeated violence against Soul Beasts, rather than simple unwillingness to cooperate. Once her rescuers demonstrate restraint and kindness, she apologizes, accepts treatment, and publicly urges her community to recognize that not all humans are enemies 14 15.

As matriarch, she weighs unfamiliar opportunities carefully. Xiao Shenghe’s extraordinary Soul Ring capacity briefly shatters her composure, but she regains control and scrutinizes whether his modest cultivation can support the proposed symbiosis 18 19.

Abilities & Skills

Human Transformation

• Can assume an elegant human form while retaining her identity as a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast 13 18.
• No chapter documents when she attained her cultivation age or acquired this transformation.

Secret of Symbiosis

An inherited Clouded Deer ability that joins a Soul Beast and a human through their souls, offering an alternative to hunting a beast for its Soul Ring 16 23 25.

• Initially explains it as relinquishing the physical body to merge with a human soul 16.
• Proposes joining Xiao Shenghe as a partner who shares his experiences and fights beside him—not as a mount or servant 17.
• Requests that he take her to the divine realm if he ever reaches it 17.
• Requires genuine sincerity between a direct-bloodline Clouded Deer and a human Soul Master; only a handful of successful cases are reported across ten thousand years 25.
• The completed ritual shown in the story binds Lu Yao and Xiao Shenghe, not explicitly the matriarch herself 19 24.

Relationships

• Xiao Yao / Lu Yao — Daughter. Risks herself to defend her mother, then persuades her to accept Xiao Shenghe’s help. The matriarch later permits her to disclose the clan’s secret 13 14 16.
• Xiao Yao’s father — Deceased mate and the father of her daughter. Human Soul Masters killed him; she made his antler into Xiao Yao’s treasured comb 13 15.
• Xiao Shenghe — Rescuer and prospective symbiotic partner. Earns her trust by protecting Xiao Yao, offering medicine, and promising to defend their family 14 15 17.
• Chen Xin — Rescuer. Rejects any claim on her Soul Ring or Soul Bone and guards the area during her treatment 14.
• Gu Rong — Rescuer and healer. Eases her pain, settles her disrupted Soul Power, and stabilizes her foundation 14.
• White Spirit Deer — Prominent member of the valley community. Welcomes the human rescuers after the chieftain vouches for them 15.
• Tian Hanyao — Spirit Hall pope who hunts her to obtain a ninth Soul Ring 13.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Notable Quotes

“I was rude before. Human Soul Masters have hurt us too many times. Trust does not come easily.” 14

“We cannot protect the peace of Spirit Creek Valley by ourselves. Today has also shown me that not all humans are our enemies.” 15

Naming and Continuity

• At the ritual altar, the mother accompanying Xiao Yao is addressed as Xiao Xue. Later chapters call Lu Yao’s mother Lu Xue, while the daughter’s name shifts from Xiao Yao to Lu Yao 19 22.
• Chapter 22 describes Lu Xue as a deceased former clan leader appearing in the shared Sea of Consciousness. Subsequent chapters depict her physically accompanying the group, providing medicine, shielding allies, and fighting Spirit Hall. The supplied passages do not explain this discrepancy 22 25 32 36 37.