Fourth Master Gray

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Fourth Master Gray
Original Name	灰四爷
Alias(es)	Fourth Gray; Master Gray; Gray Immortal 705 885 794
Species/Race	Rat Immortal Creature; a Gray-family House Immortal, fourth among the Five Immortals 662
Gender	Male 662
Affiliation	Former companion of Hu Xing; later Luo Bin’s bonded Immortal Creature 814 1708
Occupation/Role	Spirit-possession partner, tracker, scout, and commander of mountain rats 654 1115 1170
Status	Alive; accompanying Luo Bin at Nine-Peak Iron Temple Mountain 1757
First Appearance	First documented in the supplied context: Chapter 654

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
House Immortal possession — established ability	654	Hu Xing’s Spirit-Inviting Talisman lets him possess Luo Bin, greatly increasing the latter’s speed and perception and making Gray’s speech understandable.
Enhanced Spirit-Inviting Talismans	764	Teaches Luo Bin to draw the talisman in one continuous stroke and completes three papers with his blood. The finished talismans are stronger than those previously supplied by Hu Xing, but exhaust both participants.
Corpse Core-altered constitution	956	Corpse Core nourishment is explicitly credited with changing his constitution and enabling rapid recovery; his recent wounds have already scabbed over.
Direct bodily control	1163 1164	Goes beyond ordinary possession by biting Luo Bin’s shoulder and flattening against him. Controls his movements and speaks through his mouth while Luo Bin remains conscious. When this control ends, ordinary possession remains active.
Temporary Corpse Immortal empowerment	1462	A Gray-family Corpse Immortal strengthens his sense of smell enough to detect Gu Yiren when Luo Bin’s scent is concealed. This is an external enhancement, not a stated permanent realm advancement.
Confirmed increase in strength	1501	Both he and Luo Bin have grown stronger, although Gray’s improvement has not kept pace with Luo Bin’s. Possession consequently places less strain on Luo Bin than before.
Bonded Immortal Creature connection	1708	A special connection allows Luo Bin to understand him without relying on their earlier talisman-mediated communication. Gray alone has the bonded status; ordinary connections with other Immortal Creatures would not confer it.

Background / History

Hu Xing and Cabinet Mountain

Fourth Master Gray accompanied Hu Xing, whom Zhang Yunxi describes as one of Usa Mountain’s outstanding younger Spirit Mediums. His development was held back for twenty years in Cabinet Mountain. He also fought Lu You alongside Hu Xing and Bai Wei during a confrontation that left almost all the participating Immortal Creatures crippled 689 814.

Hu Xing gives Luo Bin her last Spirit-Inviting Talisman when he separates from the group to draw away Dai Tong. Gray’s possession gives Luo Bin the mobility and perception needed to prepare his confrontation at Gravemound Ridge. Dai Tong subsequently demands both the Corpse Core and the Gray Immortal as the price of sparing Luo Bin 654 655.

Gray later leaves Hu Xing and brings the corpse pill to Luo Bin. Luo Bin suspects that he is escaping Dai Zhixiong or preventing the pill from helping an evildoer; Zhang Yunxi presents his choice as evidence of clearer judgment 662.

Thousand Miao Village

Gray becomes an active combat partner during the Spirit-Transfer attackers’ incursions. He pursues fleeing enemies, bites off their toes, and cooperates with Luo Bin’s Yin Hexagram restraint to kill two opponents. His appetite also benefits from the insect-rich ravine created during Luo Bin’s gu refinement 678 679 699.

His initiative can create serious danger. At Lakeheart Island, he takes the Corpse Core into an underground life-force source, apparently understanding that it can recover more effectively there. Luo Bin follows him into a chamber threatened by flooding and by the possible disturbance of a buried living corpse 680.

Despite his bickering, Gray stays beside Luo Bin during a period when Luo feels isolated from both his family and the village. Luo Bin recognizes that companionship with genuine warmth 729.

Sawu Mountain: Captivity and Rescue

On Sawu Mountain, Gray steals Luo Bin’s lantern to force him to follow a promised treasure hunt. The destination is a cave containing five House Immortals and a corpse with a sword lodged in its mouth—later identified as the site of a Five Immortals Spirit Medium practitioner’s corpse liberation 961 1042.

The shamaness faction subsequently seizes Gray and refuses to release him. Luo Bin concludes that they fear he will alert Shi Gan to their secret actions. Gray is confined in an iron cage at Yi Yi’s Immortal Tower until the Black-Gold Toad and Golden Silkworm Gu kill the guards and free him 968 973.

After the rescue, Gray travels with the two gu companions. He spends months accommodating the toad’s Turtle Crawl disguise and later carries its tortoise shell while racing toward Three Perils Mountain 1083 1105.

Later Partnership

Gray’s partnership expands from possession and tracking into direct control of Luo Bin’s body, coordinated theft with Second Madam Hu, and increasingly dangerous retrieval missions. He helps navigate the Mountain of Blades Prison, steals useful sanctuary tools, and retrieves the Purple Flower Lantern during Yuan Yinxin’s attack on Luo Bin’s family 1163 1231 1372.

Their connection eventually develops into a bonded Immortal Creature relationship. Gray remains outspoken and troublesome, but continues taking risks on Luo Bin’s behalf, including carrying Zi Miao’s Blood Heart into the battle against Black City Monastery 1708 1746.

Appearance

• White fur: Frequently appears as a white blur when moving at speed 679 680.
• Rat features: Small, darting eyes, pink legs, a prominent tail, and cheek pouches that swell when filled with food or severed body parts 679.
• Increasing size: Grows fat on the ravine’s abundant insects. Later, his fur becomes glossier and his body heavier—large enough to make Luo Bin’s shoulder sway when he lands on it 699 1221.
• Habitual perch: Usually rides on Luo Bin’s shoulder or burrows into his clothes 764 1559.
• Expressive posture: Raises himself upright, shakes a leg to mock others, and lets his ears and tail droop when embarrassed or reprimanded 679 764 885.

Personality

Fourth Master Gray is boastful, foul-mouthed, and almost relentlessly talkative. He calls Luo Bin “Little Luo,” refers to himself as “your Fourth Master,” and alternates between encouragement, insults, and unsolicited advice. His accounts of events tend to ramble and accumulate embellishments, a habit Luo Bin associates with Xu Lu 1115 1163 1225.

He is greedy for food, corpses, and valuable objects. He steals meals, tries to eat Miao Miao’s gu worms, and presents theft as practical assistance rather than wrongdoing. He also enjoys comfort, being carried, opera, and romantic gossip; an interest in a female Gray Immortal once distracts him from guard duty 662 699 713 885 1231 1281.

His caution is rooted in distrust of powerful institutions. He rejects appeals that might manipulate Luo Bin into risking his life and treats diplomatic courtesy as a potential invitation to exploitation. Nevertheless, he can become overconfident when impressed by gifts or lineage connections, requiring Luo Bin to remind him to remain vigilant 1115 1312 1703 1757.

His courage is uneven but real. He fears overwhelming enemies and sometimes retreats, yet repeatedly protects Luo Bin at considerable personal cost. He takes a binding chain meant for Luo, endures repeated stabbing without begging, and refuses to abandon him even when Luo tries to throw him to safety 1400 1571 1642.

Abilities & Skills

Spirit Possession

Uses the Gray Immortal Spirit-Inviting Talisman to lend Luo Bin his physical advantages 654.

• Greatly increases speed, agility, and sensory acuity 654 1571.
• Enables difficult cliff climbing, described as comparable to walking on level ground 814.
• Makes Gray’s speech intelligible to Luo Bin before their later bonded connection 764 1708.
• Consumes substantial energy even when Gray remains motionless; exhaustion ends the possession 814.
• Can be disrupted by specialized techniques: Guo Baichi uses cinnabar on a bronze mirror to ignite the talisman, forcibly expelling and incapacitating Gray 1225.

Direct Bodily Control

Can take control beyond the normal enhancement provided by Spirit Possession 1163.

• Bites Luo Bin’s shoulder and presses his flattened body against him to initiate control 1163.
• Uses Luo Bin’s mouth to speak and directs his limbs while Luo retains bodily sensation and awareness 1163.
• Rapidly detects and intercepts hidden Bronze Swords in the Mountain of Blades Prison 1163.
• Later uses this control to guide Luo Bin covertly along the woods near a Sawu Mountain entrance 1315.
• Direct control can cease without ending the underlying ordinary possession 1164.

Scent Tracking and Detection

Gray-family tracking relies on scent rather than divination 1115.

• Guides Luo Bin during the search for Huang Ying and indicates that she has left the mountains 710.
• Suggests he can locate Bai Xiaoshan by his remembered scent when Taoist methods have failed 1115.
• Detects concealed people in poor visibility and reports hidden groups and their activities 1163 1237.
• Can receive external enhancement from a Gray-family Corpse Immortal 1462.
• Is not infallible: he mistakes the scent in an ambushed courtyard for Hu Xing’s, while Luo Bin recognizes that the person inside is not her 802.

Speed, Climbing, and Burrowing

Combines exceptional speed with routes inaccessible or inconvenient to humans 1105.

• Takes shortcuts along mountain foothills rather than crossing every summit and ridge 1105.
• Traverses cliff faces while carrying a rope for Luo Bin’s group 1244.
• Digs a passage large enough for a person, assisted by rats from Mouse Mountain 1367.
• Excavates beneath feng shui foundations on Third Master Hu’s instructions, allowing Bai Wei to pass through the affected site 1462.

Rat Command and Close-Range Attacks

Directs mountain rats for transport, excavation, and swarm attacks 932 1367 1170.

• Helps a swarm carry the Primordial Calculation patriarch’s coffin 932.
• Enthusiastically commands rats against the Little Earth Aspect disciples 1170.
• Bites through toes, fingers, and necks; targets eyes during close-range attacks 679 952.
• Cooperates with Luo Bin’s restraint techniques to attack immobilized enemies 679.
• Remains vulnerable to superior opponents and soul-affecting artifacts: Zhou Sanming’s Bronze Club incapacitates both him and the supporting rats 951.

Corpse Core Recovery

Absorbs nourishment from a Corpse Core by inhaling rather than swallowing it 764.

• Recovers rapidly after expending blood and energy on talisman creation 764.
• Corpse Core nourishment alters his constitution and accelerates wound recovery 956.
• Receives a Good Corpse Core after the Shaman’s Little Figures repeatedly stab him 1400.
• Uses the benevolent Pill Corpse to restore strength during the infiltration of Cabinet Mountain 1381.

Talisman Knowledge

Recognizes and demonstrates the correct method for drawing his Spirit-Inviting Talisman 764.

• Requires the drawing to be completed in one continuous stroke 764.
• Supplies blood that the paper absorbs, making the depicted rats appear almost alive 764.
• Shares in the cost of creating powerful talismans and becomes visibly weakened afterward 764.
• Controls access to his cooperation; bites Xu Lu when the latter presses to learn the talisman 829.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Gray Immortal Spirit-Inviting Talisman — The medium for his ordinary possession of Luo Bin; initially supplied by Hu Xing and later produced by Luo Bin with Gray’s guidance and blood 654 764.
• Corpse Cores and corpse pills — Nourishment and recovery resources supplied by Luo Bin; Gray also delivers a corpse pill after leaving Hu Xing 662 764 1400.
• Cinnabar Tortoise shell — Carries it in his mouth while transporting the Black-Gold Toad in its tortoise disguise 1105.
• Stolen jade ruler and two ink-line reels — Obtains them with Second Madam Hu from the Taoist Sanctuary; the reels had helped suppress the Bright Consort’s mist 1231.

Relationships

• Luo Bin — Possession partner and eventual bonded practitioner. Their constant bickering coexists with mutual protection, feeding, healing, and growing understanding 729 1400 1708.
• Hu Xing / Xing’er — Former Spirit Medium companion. Leaves her with the corpse pill, but retains affection and concern. Although her death at Dai Zhixiong’s hands is reported earlier, she appears again later; Gray subsequently fears instability in her cultivation and vows revenge on Dai for “killing” her 662 829 1328 1337.
• Bai Wei — Earlier battle companion and an authority who reprimands him for neglecting Luo Bin’s protection. Gray encourages Luo to seek further Spirit Medium instruction from him 689 885 1312.
• Xu Lu — Frequent target of mockery and an admirer of Gray’s abilities. Gray initially rejects his interest in the talisman but later offers to let Xu experience possession himself 814 829 1244.
• Black-Gold Toad — Rival and companion. The toad attacks him, prevents his theft of the Moon-Shaped Stone, and later helps rescue him from captivity; Gray subsequently carries it during their travels 705 961 973 1105.
• Golden Silkworm Gu — Fellow companion that joins the Black-Gold Toad in freeing him from Yi Yi’s Immortal Tower 973.
• Miao Miao — Protects her gu worms from his appetite but also cradles him and scratches his neck when he seeks comfort 662 713.
• Second Madam Hu — Accomplice in stealing the jade ruler and ink-line reels from the Taoist Sanctuary 1231.
• Zhang Yunxi — Explains Gray’s proper House Immortal title, defends his independence, and recognizes his tracking talent even when he is severely injured 662 814.
• Dai Zhixiong — Pursuer and target of Gray’s revenge for Hu Xing’s treatment 662 1337.
• Mao Yousan — Wins Gray’s admiration through his actions; Chang Xin’s connection to Mao is enough to transform Gray’s suspicion into enthusiastic acceptance 1757.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Arc / Event	Gray’s Contribution
Gravemound Ridge confrontation	Possesses Luo Bin through Hu Xing’s last talisman, enabling his rapid movement and improved perception while Dai Tong pursues him 654 655.
Spirit-Transfer attackers	Pursues retreating enemies and combines lethal bites with Luo Bin’s restraint techniques 678 679.
Lakeheart Island crisis	Takes the Corpse Core to the underground life-force source, drawing Luo Bin into a dangerous tomb chamber 680.
Sawu Mountain captivity	Is seized by the shamaness faction and rescued from Yi Yi’s tower by the toad and silkworm 968 973.
Mountain of Blades Prison	Warns of approaching enemies and demonstrates direct control of Luo Bin’s body to intercept hidden swords 1163 1164.
Guo Baichi duel	Encourages and enhances Luo Bin until Guo burns the Spirit-Inviting Talisman and forces him out 1225.
City God Temple breakdown	Knows about the former On-Duty City God’s death after visiting the temple in Zhu Youming’s body. Denies responsibility while Luo Bin suspects his companions’ involvement 1281 1284.
Female Crypt confrontation	Retreats from the tower after suffering the bell’s backlash, then seeks reinforcements for Luo Bin rather than simply abandoning him 1294 1295.
Yuan Yinxin’s family-possession trap	Fetches the Purple Flower Lantern at the decisive moment, allowing Luo Bin to expose and destroy the spirits possessing Luo Feng and Gu Ya 1372.
Cabinet Mountain infiltration	Helps Luo Bin follow disciples through the concealed entrance, then survives the Shaman’s torture and removes the clothing controlling Luo’s body 1381 1400.
Nuo deity battle	Places the Thunder Duke mask on Luo Xianshen, enabling the transformation that turns the battle against Miao Qi 1547 1548.
Weilu tomb confrontation	Enhances Luo Bin’s evasion and intercepts a binding chain meant for him; Luo later frees Gray 1571 1573.
Divine Firmament confrontation	Refuses to leave Luo Bin during pursuit by powerful Taoists, helping him escape toward Luo Xianshen 1642.
Black City Monastery battle	Carries a flask of Zi Miao’s Blood Heart into the fighting as part of Luo Bin’s desperate plan 1746.

Notable Quotes

“I'm a Gray Immortal, not a god. Why don't you just ask me to tell you where they went? Wouldn't that save you even more trouble?” 1120

“They're good people, but you can't be certain they don't have secrets hidden away.” 1180

“Little Luo, do you know what it's like when I want to say something and you can't understand? It makes me feel like I'm performing a one-man comedy routine! Do you understand?” 1708