Xu Yan

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Xu Yan (徐炎)
Alias(es)	Second Prince; Brother Yan; “young sect master,” as addressed by Peng Yu 5 26
Gender	Male 1
Age	Eight at the beginning of the story 1 22
Heritage	Sun Moon imperial bloodline with half of his ancestry from the Heaven Dou Empire 7
Affiliation	Sun Moon imperial family; Body Sect 1 13
Occupation/Role	Sun Moon Empire’s Second Prince; Du Busi’s direct disciple and prospective successor as Body Sect master 12 15
Cultivation	Rank-23 Soul Grandmaster with two purple thousand-year soul rings 6
Martial Soul	Whole-body Body Martial Soul, manifested as the Flame Emperor 8 23
Status	Alive; training at the Body Sect under Peng Yu 26
First Appearance	Chapter 1, “Upheaval on a Rainy Night” 1

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Martial soul awakening — age six	8	Awakens his extreme-yang martial soul and recognizes himself as a transmigrator. Its known attributes include ultimate fire, ultimate light, and sacred power.
First soul ring — Soul Master	3 24	Obtains his first ring during a soul-hunting trip at age six. The Purgatory Wyvern ring begins at 910 years and rises to 1,050 years during absorption at noon, granting Crimson Flame Golden Body.
Second soul ring — Soul Grandmaster, age eight	1 8 25	Returns from obtaining a Fire-Armored Dragon ring immediately before the coup. Origin refinement raises its age from 4,900 to over 5,100 years and adds another hundred years to his first ring. His second skill is Flame Fist: Heaven-Burning Cannon.
Rank-23 Soul Grandmaster	6	Explicitly confirmed during the sewer escape. His martial soul has not undergone a second awakening.
Body Sect cultivation method	22 23 24	Receives Secret of the Body and adopts its meditation method, which better suits his martial soul and strengthens his meridians.
Improved extreme-yang endurance	24	Can withstand the noon surge for ninety seconds with his body alone, or the entire five-minute peak with actively controlled Flame of Life healing. This is physical progress, not a new cultivation rank.
Bone Tempering Valley training begins	26	Starts Peng Yu’s regimen of cold-pool meridian tempering, waterfall conditioning, and cliff climbing to prepare his body and mind for further growth.

Background / History

Transmigration and Early Alliances

Xu Yan remembers the original story of the world into which he was born. After awakening his martial soul at six, he uses imperial resources to find and support Ji Juechen, whose dedication to swordsmanship he had admired as a reader. He also meets Yan Feng during a soul-hunting trip after the boy has fled persecution over his Bone Dragon martial soul 3 8.

Two months before the coup, Xu Yan acquires the Spirit-Devouring Blade on the black market and purifies its evil energy. He distributes pieces of its Gold of Life to Xu He, Yan Feng, and Ji Juechen. Ji Juechen’s martial soul and meteoric-iron sword undergo a major transformation, producing life sword intent 8.

The Mingdu Coup

A banquet celebrating Xu Yan’s second soul ring becomes the setting for Xu Tianlong’s coup. His father, Emperor Xu Jingyao, is killed, and Xu He reports that their mother and sister are also dead. Xu Yan escapes with Xu He, Ji Juechen, and Yan Feng. The coup occurs half a year earlier than he remembers, forcing him to reconsider his dependence on foreknowledge 1 2.

Xu Yan leads the fugitives into Mingdu’s sewers. When a Soul King and seven Soul Ancestors corner them, he kills the patrol captain and an assassin leader with the Blazing Sun Pistol. He then takes the survivors’ weapons and storage rings, allowing them to flee because he lacks enough ammunition to eliminate everyone 2 4 5 6.

At sunrise, a previously spared assassin returns with four Soul Elders. Xu Yan fights the scarred Soul Ancestor directly, kills Snake King, and regenerates his damaged arm. His companions defeat the other attackers through coordinated swordsmanship, martial souls, and modified soul tools 7 8 9 10 11.

Rescue and Joining the Body Sect

Xu Tianyuan intercepts the group and attempts to execute them. Xu Yan asks him to spare Ji Juechen and Yan Feng, then prepares a Level 9 fixed shell as a mutual-destruction weapon when the request fails. Nangong Wan briefly takes Yan Feng away, while Du Busi interrupts Xu Tianyuan’s renewed attack and clashes with Kong Deming 11 12.

Body Sect elders Jin Peng and Mo Yuan recover Yan Feng and invite Xu Yan into the sect. He accepts after confirming that his companions can accompany him, seeking both safety and access to the secret of a Body Martial Soul’s second awakening. Watching Du Busi fight also inspires him to pursue a body-and-fist-centered martial path 13 14.

During their withdrawal, Xu Yan prompts Du Busi to capture the wounded Xu Tianyuan. He becomes Du Busi’s direct disciple and takes the captive’s storage ring. After declaring his intention to reclaim and rebuild the empire, he burns Xu Tianyuan alive 15 16.

Strategic Warehouse Raid

Xu Yan proposes robbing the Sun Moon Empire’s strategic warehouse while the coup has disrupted its defenses. He persuades Du Busi to avoid a frontal attack, instead using soul-power concealment, Mo Yuan’s mental illusion, and Xu He’s inherited access privileges 16 17 18.

The group removes rare ores, high-grade equipment, five Level 9 cannons, and ten Level 9 shells. Xu Yan also has the guards surrender their storage rings and asks Yan Feng to leave evil martial-soul residue as a misleading clue. The investigators subsequently blame the Holy Spirit Cult, although Liao Mengkai privately questions the aura’s familiarity 17 18 19 20.

Xu Yan values the stolen metals as a foundation for future soul-tool production and potentially Battle Armor. His aim is to modernize the Body Sect rather than let it repeat the disastrous wartime fate he remembers 16 19.

A New Beginning at the Body Sect

Du Busi publicly introduces Xu Yan as his direct disciple and settles the four companions in a simple courtyard. Xu Yan finds the modest surroundings unexpectedly peaceful after life in the imperial palace 21 22.

Studying Secret of the Body helps him understand his martial soul’s origin and the causes of his unusual ring-age increases. His first noon cultivation session at the sect attracts both alarm and admiration as he repeatedly burns and regenerates his body. Peng Yu offers personal instruction and begins his demanding training the following morning 23 24 25 26.

Appearance

• Ordinary appearance: Strikingly handsome, with a composed bearing and cool demeanor that distinguish him from other children his age 22.
• Flame Emperor form: Surrounded by crimson-gold flames; becomes taller, with tighter and more powerful muscles 8.
• Soul rings: Two purple thousand-year rings, an exceptional configuration achieved before any second awakening 23.
• Noon outburst: His frame enlarges as intense heat scorches him from within; white mist rises from his skin, and his flames can melt the courtyard’s stone into a lava-like pool 23 24.

Personality

Xu Yan prioritizes action over emotional collapse. During the coup, he suppresses his grief and harshly forces Xu He to focus on survival. His outward calm is not fearlessness: after the sewer battle, he privately admits that more cautious enemies could have killed the entire group. He relies on deception, close-range opportunities, and careful planning rather than assuming his talent guarantees victory 1 5 6.

His loyalty to his companions contrasts with his ruthlessness toward enemies. He tries to secure Ji Juechen and Yan Feng’s release even when expecting to die, and makes their safety a condition of joining the Body Sect. Toward the coup’s perpetrators, he promises extermination and personally executes Xu Tianyuan. He is ambitious enough to seek both the empire’s reconstruction and the continent’s unification 12 13 16 22.

Xu Yan respects disciplined cultivators and accepts painful training without demanding royal privileges. He also rejects judging people solely by their martial-soul attributes, condemning the persecution of Yan Feng as hypocritical. His thorough looting and dry exchanges with Yan Feng reveal an opportunistic, occasionally sardonic side 3 17 25 26.

Abilities & Skills

Whole-Body Martial Soul: Flame Emperor

Xu Yan’s martial soul encompasses his entire body rather than a single organ or limb. Body Sect elders identify it as a perfect Body Martial Soul with an ultimate attribute 6 23 24.

• Possession produces his Flame Emperor form and draws surrounding yang energy into his body 8.
• Before second awakening, its basic bodily advantages include greater strength, stamina, and recovery 6.
• Du Busi’s demonstration inspires him to cultivate his body and fists into weapons capable of breaking opposing techniques; this remains a chosen direction rather than an achieved mastery 14.

Extreme-Yang Power

His extreme-yang power has unlocked ultimate fire, ultimate light, and the sacred attribute 8.

• Sunlight enhancement: Daytime strength increases with sunlight intensity; the newly risen sun doubles his combat strength 7 8.
• Noon peak: Combat strength rises tenfold for the five-minute daily peak. His flames can penetrate a Soul Ancestor’s soul-power defenses and threaten a Soul King 24.
• Purification: Uses sacred power to remove the Spirit-Devouring Blade’s evil energy 8.
• Secrecy: Avoids displaying sacred power publicly to keep the Holy Spirit Cult from noticing him 8.
• Backlash: Noon fire burns his body from within. Higher cultivation intensifies both his power and the damage, creating the “death spiral” identified by Kong Deming 7.

Soul Skills

Soul Skill	Ring	Effect and Limitations
Crimson Flame Golden Body	First; purple, thousand-year	Envelops his body in golden solar flames and doubles strength, speed, and defense 4.
Flame Fist: Heaven-Burning Cannon	Second; purple, thousand-year	Compresses flames into a miniature sun around his fist. Severely damages the scarred Soul Ancestor’s arm, but the head-on collision also badly injures Xu Yan 8.

Flame of Life

His emerald flame channels concentrated life force into rapid regeneration 5 10 24.

• Repairs injuries caused by pistol recoil and close combat 5 10.
• Regenerates burned skin, damaged organs, and cracked bones during noon tempering 24.
• Allows him to endure the full five-minute extreme-yang peak 24.
• Requires precise active control and considerable spiritual power; Gold of Life’s passive recovery cannot keep pace with the noon damage by itself 24.
• Maintains a temporary balance with his destructive flame rather than permanently curing the backlash 23.

Martial Soul Origin Refinement

Xu Yan channels daily noon yang energy into his martial soul origin, gradually strengthening both his foundation and his flames 24 25.

• Increases flame purity, temperature, and explosive power 24.
• Raises soul-ring ages through origin feedback, including both of his existing rings 24 25.
• Absorbs the refining energy without the waste and unpredictability associated with externally forced awakenings 25.
• Is slow, intensely painful, and dangerous; he has not yet completed a second awakening 6 23 25.

Strategy and Soul-Tool Knowledge

Xu Yan combines political reasoning, imperial technical knowledge, and original-story memories 1 2 16.

• Identifies the coup’s likely security weaknesses and organizes the warehouse infiltration 16 17.
• Uses apparent injuries and ammunition uncertainty to manipulate enemies into unfavorable decisions 5 8.
• Understands advanced weapons, reconnaissance systems, rechargeable tools, and the potential of Battle Armor 16 18 19.
• Prefers to leave research and manufacturing to specialists such as Xuan Ziwen 19.
• Recognizes that altered events make his foreknowledge unreliable 1.

Body Sect Training

Peng Yu assigns a regimen tailored to Xu Yan’s unusual vitality and recovery 26.

Exercise	Assigned Work	Purpose
Cold Pool Meridian Tempering	Four hours in an icy pool while circulating the Body Sect method, without using extreme-yang fire	Strengthen meridians and accelerate soul-power circulation 26.
Heavenly River Body Tempering	Four hours beneath a waterfall without soul power or martial-soul protection	Condition skin, bones, organs, and mental endurance 26.
Wild Wind Cliff Climbing	Ascend and descend a slippery, wind-blasted sixty-zhang cliff twice	Temper willpower and the mind; falls risk broken bones 26.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Blazing Sun Pistol — Xuan Ziwen’s Class 6 fixed-shell soul pistol. Its armor-piercing rounds kill a Soul King and a Soul Ancestor at point-blank range. Only five rounds were produced initially, leaving three after those kills. Recoil damages Xu Yan’s arm, while spiritual targeting demands and poor marksmanship limit its usefulness against fast enemies 5 6.
• Level 9 Fixed Soul Guidance Shell — Emergency weapon capable of destroying an entire city. Xu Yan prepares to detonate it against Xu Tianyuan, but outside intervention prevents its use 11 12.
• Storage Soul Tool Ring — Carries concealed weapons and supplies; Xu Yan also acquires Xu Tianyuan’s ring and its valuables 8 12 15 16.
• Heaven-Burning Nine-Sun Cannon — Taken from Xu Tianyuan’s ring. Fires nine high-temperature rays and accepts specialized Level 9 flame shells. Requires a fire-type user and a long charge; its peak performance is not demonstrated by Xu Yan 16.
• Secret of the Body — Body Sect manual covering meditation, bodily tempering, medicinal support, and second awakening 22 23.
• Custom Gravity Suit — Built by Jing Hongchen with core arrays of at least Class Eight. Adjusts gravity within a one-meter radius and reports training data. Left behind during the escape 26.
• Level 4 Mobility Soul Tool — Glowing patterns beneath his feet help him pursue the scarred assassin 11.
• Telescopic Soul Tool — Used to scout the strategic warehouse and identify Wang Xiao 17.

Relationships

• Xu He — Older brother and fellow surviving prince. Xu Yan pushes him out of despair; Xu He supports their escape with cigars, ranged weapons, detection tools, and warehouse access 1 6 10 18.
• Xu Jingyao — Father and late Sun Moon emperor. Xu Yan respects his recovery-focused rule and seeks revenge for his murder 1 2 16.
• Ji Juechen — Trusted companion whose cultivation and martial soul Xu Yan helps improve. Ji repeatedly protects him and refuses to abandon him before Xu Tianyuan 5 8 12.
• Yan Feng — Companion rescued from persecution. Receives Gold of Life from Xu Yan and remains fiercely loyal throughout the escape 3 8 12.
• Du Busi — Master and protector. Offers Xu Yan succession to the Body Sect; Xu Yan encourages him to reconsider soul tools and supplies the sect through the warehouse raid 15 16.
• Peng Yu — Cultivation instructor. Recognizes Xu Yan’s resilience and subjects him to an unusually demanding starting regimen 25 26.
• Jin Peng and Mo Yuan — Rescuers and senior sect allies. Help recover Yan Feng, recruit Xu Yan, and execute the warehouse raid 13 17 18 19.
• Xuan Ziwen — Important soul-engineering ally and creator of the Blazing Sun Pistol. Xu Yan refuses to seek refuge at his home because their connection must remain concealed 5 6.
• Liao Mengkai — Soul-hunting escort and imperial supporter who regards Xu Yan as an excellent heir 6 7.
• Long Aotian — Fellow disciple initially expected to become Du Busi’s student. Welcomes Xu Yan graciously and wants to spar with him 21 22.
• Vina — Heaven Dou princess attracted to his appearance. Xu Yan remains uninterested and anticipates political conflict between her national loyalty and his unification ambitions 22.
• Xu Tianlong and Xu Tianran — Uncle and cousin leading the hostile imperial faction. Both consider Xu Yan’s talent and ambition a threat to their rule 2 3.
• Xu Tianyuan — Coup participant who attempts to kill him. Xu Yan later arranges his capture, takes his possessions, and executes him 12 15 16.

Goals and Unresolved Limitations

• Survive his own martial soul: Kong Deming predicts he will not live beyond Soul Elder without fundamental bodily transformation; his healing has not conclusively removed this danger 7 23.
• Complete a second awakening: Seeks the Body Sect’s guarded method but has not performed the awakening. The highest grade carries severe prerequisites and a death risk of at least 60% 13 23.
• Reach the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well: Plans to use immortal herbs and the well’s power to temper his body and control his extreme-yang fire 23.
• Strengthen spiritual power: Specifically wants Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew to improve his ability to direct continuous healing 24.
• Modernize the Body Sect: Envisions professional soul-tool development and potentially Battle Armor using the stolen rare metals 16 19.
• Reclaim the empire and unify the continent: Intends to replace the coup’s ruling faction rather than abandon his political ambitions 16 22.

Notable Quotes

“This—is the price of your contempt.” 5

“It's only the two of us brothers you want to settle accounts with. These two beside me have nothing to do with the imperial family's struggles. Please let them live.” 12

“The Sun Moon Empire's roots are rotten through. It needs to grow anew. And I'll bring fresh blood into the Sun Moon Empire and take it back from your hands.” 16