Lingyunzi

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Lingyunzi (灵云子)
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Firecloud Sect; Vanguard Team 245
Occupation/Role	Golden Core cultivator; disciple of the sect’s Grand Elder; original leader of the Vanguard Team 245 278
Master	Flame Cloud Lion King 278
Cultivation	Early Golden Core Stage 238 249
Special Constitution	Sharp Gold Body, acquired through metal-type spirit medicine 253
Age	Under one hundred when introduced 238 253
Status	Deceased. Converted into Wang Yan’s humanoid puppet before his body was destroyed by self-detonation 254 276
First Appearance	Mentioned in Chapter 238; appears in person in Chapter 239 238 239

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Acquired Sharp Gold Body	253	Before his introduction, consumed metal-type spirit medicine that transformed his constitution. It accelerated metal cultivation but caused severe bodily mutation.
Early Golden Core Stage	238 253	Reached Golden Core before turning one hundred and became known as the Firecloud Sect’s youngest Golden Core cultivator. The Medicine Sage attributes his rapid advancement to his acquired constitution.

Appearance

Lingyunzi is short and stout, wearing long robes in a monk-like style when Wang Yan first encounters him 239.

• Lump-covered face: His severely disfigured face and savage expression are his most conspicuous features 239.
• Golden skin markings: These reveal his Sharp Gold Body during the Medicine Sage’s examination 253.
• Irreversible mutation at his realm: He cannot correct the disfigurement through ordinary Golden Core-level appearance alteration; doing so would require at least the Divine Communion Realm 253.
• Puppet appearance: Conversion leaves his outward appearance intact, but his eyes are vacant until Wang Yan takes control 254.

Personality

Lingyunzi is arrogant, possessive, and easily pleased by praise. Wang Yan initially redirects him through exaggerated admiration, while Lingyunzi speaks of the Zhang sisters as “my two beauties” despite their refusal to become his partners 239. He resents Ye Shisan merely for greeting them and blames Wang Yan for their rejection 246 249.

His vanity does not make him unintelligent. He manipulates sect hierarchy to establish the Vanguard Team, secretly marks Zhang Qiulin to track her, and avoids Wang Yan’s cannon barrage rather than confronting it directly 245 248 250. His cruelty extends beyond threats: during the chase, he boasts of humiliating other captives confined in his cave abode 249.

After his conversion, his apparent speech and temperament are performances directed by Wang Yan. Wang Yan deliberately preserves his arrogance and hostility to prevent fellow cultivators from recognizing the substitution 254 260 266.

Abilities & Skills

Sharp Gold Body

An acquired constitution particularly suited to metal-type cultivation arts 253.

• Greatly increases cultivation speed with compatible arts.
• Explains his attainment of Golden Core before one hundred.
• Mutated his body because his cultivation was insufficient to control the transformation.
• Is the principal reason Flame Cloud Lion King accepted him as a disciple 253 278.

Metal-Element Combat

Lingyunzi fights with metal-element divine abilities and golden sword attacks 249 269.

• Golden Sword-Rays: Fires dozens of fast-moving rays; kills three masked Core Condensation cultivators during the scouting encounter 247 249.
• Protective barriers: Easily repels Zhang Qiulang’s initial Mandarin Duck Scissors attack 246.
• Power disparity: Initially overwhelms the combined attacks of Ye Shisan and the Zhang sisters, aided by his Golden Disc 249.
• Depletion vulnerability: The sisters later break his barrier after teleportation and earlier injuries have weakened him 251.

Flight and Teleportation

His flight speed initially exceeds Wang Yan’s, while Golden Light Wings and a teleportation treasure allow him to evade concentrated attacks 239 249 250.

• Teleports out of the five cannon puppets’ firing lines 250.
• His first teleportation costs roughly a quarter of his magic power 251.
• A second use in quick succession consumes blood essence, injures him, and leaves at least three-quarters of his magic power expended overall 251.
• Two successive uses are his limit during the battle 251.

Tracking and Concealment

Lingyunzi combines a concealed approach with a secretly placed mark to defeat the group’s escape 248.

• Marks Zhang Qiulin without the group noticing.
• Uses the mark to locate their remote hiding place.
• Approaches invisibly, escaping advance detection by both Wang Yan and Card Fairy.
• The restriction on Zhang Qiulin also prevents her from escaping during the subsequent fight 248 249.

Humanoid Puppet Properties

The Medicine Sage erases Lingyunzi’s memories and removes his soul and divine sense, leaving a living flesh-and-blood body controlled by restriction arrays 254.

• Control: Wang Yan binds him with blood and directs him through divine sense; effective control requires remaining within a limited range 254 261.
• Resilience: The body feels no pain and survives wounds that the formation-core guards assume are fatal 268 269.
• Soul-attack immunity: The Black Evil King’s soul-shocking red light does not incapacitate the soulless puppet 276.
• Physical limits: He still suffers injuries and expends magic power. Medicinal pills restore part of his depleted strength 261 262.
• Retained restriction: The powerful death restriction placed on him remains intact after conversion 253 254.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Golden Light Gourd / Golden Gourd — A Supreme Ancient Treasure given by his master. It can smash a mountain peak and release devastating golden beams using stored metal-element heaven-and-earth spiritual energy. Destroyed with his puppet body 250 251 276 285.
• Golden Light Bowl — A magic treasure used for attack and protection. Its sound waves rupture Fellow Daoist Earth Dragon’s ears during the formation-core counterambush. Destroyed in the self-detonation 252 268 276 285.
• Golden Disc — An Ancient Treasure that expands into a large shield, repelling the Mandarin Duck Scissors and throwing Ye Shisan backward 249.
• Golden Light Armor — Saves him from the sisters’ enhanced combined attack after his barrier breaks 251.
• Golden Light Talisman — Creates layered, crystalline hexagonal protection. The Cave Abode Secret Realm’s formations eventually crush it 252.
• Golden Light Wings and teleportation treasure — Used together to escape Wang Yan’s cannon trap 250.
• Storage Bag — Contains extensive Spirit Stones and treasures, which Wang Yan appropriates after capturing him 255 285.

History

Sect Standing and Pursuit of the Zhang Sisters

Lingyunzi’s rapid advancement makes him a prominent cultivation prospect within the Firecloud Sect. His master, Flame Cloud Lion King, accepts him chiefly to keep the potential of his Sharp Gold Body from benefiting a rival sect. Although aware of his poor character, the master tolerates him so long as he does not go too far 238 278.

Lingyunzi seeks Zhang Qiulin and Zhang Qiulang as dual-cultivation partners to exploit their special constitutions. Neither the sisters nor their master, Fairy Dream Mysterious, agrees. When he pursues them near Firecloud Divine Mountain, Wang Yan conceals them in his secret realm and misdirects Lingyunzi, claiming they vanished beneath a concealment treasure 238 239.

Wang Yan also gives the false identity of Yue Yang of Heaven Cloud Peak. Lingyunzi later spots him among Yellow Cloud Peak’s cultivators and recognizes the inconsistency 240 244.

Vanguard Team and Capture

During preparations for war with Lin Nation, Lingyunzi proposes an elite vanguard to prevent another ambush. He secures command by invoking the Grand Elder’s support and his need for dual cultivation to overcome a bottleneck. Fairy Dream Mysterious obtains only a promise that he will behave toward her disciples until the battle ends 245.

He drafts six Core Condensation disciples: Wang Yan, Liu Wushuang, Ye Shisan, Wang Lihong, Zhang Qiulin, and Zhang Qiulang. Once away from the main force, he harasses the sisters and grabs Zhang Qiulin’s hand. Wang Yan interrupts the confrontation by calling attention to nearby enemies 245 246.

The ensuing pursuit gives Wang Yan an opportunity to flee with Ye Shisan and the sisters. Lingyunzi tracks them through his concealed mark, ambushes Wang Yan, and attempts to divide the group by offering the women pardon and ordering Ye Shisan to kill Wang Yan. All three reject him 247 248.

Wang Yan lures Lingyunzi through explosive traps, but his mobility and treasures nearly defeat the group. Ye Shisan redirects the Golden Gourd’s beam toward its owner, forcing costly teleportation; the sisters then break his weakened defenses. Wang Yan draws him into the Cave Abode Secret Realm Pagoda and seals his magic and movement with its formations 249 250 251 252.

Conversion and Wartime Reputation

The Medicine Sage discovers both the acquired Sharp Gold Body and a death restriction likely imposed by a late Nascent Soul expert. Rather than risk killing him, Wang Yan agrees to his conversion into a humanoid puppet. The Sage absorbs part of Lingyunzi’s power to aid his own recovery 253 254.

Wang Yan conceals the conversion behind a story of severe injuries. Under his control, Lingyunzi becomes the public face of the team’s wartime successes, earning credit for rescuing disciples, destroying Black Evil Kings, and helping break enemy formations 254 259 267 272.

His apparent heroism prompts Martial Uncle Ye to requisition him for a rescue mission. Nascent Soul cultivators supply medicines that restore his strength to approximately sixty or seventy percent 261 262. At the formation core, Wang Yan uses him as bait for Fellow Daoist Yu and Fellow Daoist Earth Dragon, then destroys both enemies with a concealed Water-Fire Blast 267 268 269.

Self-Detonation and Aftermath

During a confrontation with Dark Cyan Poison Venerable, Wang Yan has the puppet remain behind while the others flee. The Black Evil King’s soul attack briefly immobilizes the enemies but leaves Lingyunzi unaffected. The puppet seizes the Venerable and self-detonates, destroying his physical body; his nascent soul survives 275 276.

Flame Cloud Lion King initially rejects the report, finding voluntary self-detonation incompatible with his disciple’s character 277. Wang Yan had planned Lingyunzi’s destruction and transferred his remaining treasures and contribution points beforehand. Only the Golden Light Gourd and Golden Light Bowl are lost with the body 285.

Wartime Honors

These honors are awarded to Lingyunzi’s public identity while Wang Yan secretly controls him 272.

Awarding body	Recognition	Rewards
Five Great Sects’ allied army	Third-greatest contribution	Several million Spirit Stones, two Ancient Treasures, and rare treasures and materials 272
Firecloud Sect	First-ranked achievement for destroying the Skull Heaven-and-Earth Formation	500,000 Merit Points, several million Spirit Stones, a high-grade Spirit Treasure, pills, and rare resources 272
Firecloud Sect	Permanent cultivation residence	A cave abode on Firecloud Divine Mountain’s eighty-eighth level—the best available there for a Golden Core cultivator 272

• The Vanguard Team becomes known to Lin Nation cultivators as the Slaughter Team for its wartime activity and enemy casualties 273.
• All material rewards effectively pass to Wang Yan, although he cannot safely use the prestigious cave abode without inviting suspicion 272.

Relationships

• Flame Cloud Lion King — Master and powerful protector. Values Lingyunzi’s acquired constitution more than his character and supplies the Golden Gourd 251 278.
• Wang Yan — Enemy, captor, and eventual puppet controller. Lingyunzi blames him for the sisters’ rejection; Wang Yan later appropriates his authority, possessions, and rewards 249 254 272 285.
• Zhang Qiulin — Unwilling target of his dual-cultivation pursuit. He grabs her hand and secretly places the tracking mark that exposes the group’s refuge 246 248.
• Zhang Qiulang — Unwilling target who attacks him to defend her sister and later helps weaken him for capture 246 251.
• Fairy Dream Mysterious — The sisters’ master. Opposes his pursuit but cannot prevent their forced assignment to his vanguard 238 245.
• Ye Shisan — Subordinate whom Lingyunzi resents for his familiarity with the sisters. Refuses to betray Wang Yan and plays a decisive role in Lingyunzi’s defeat 246 248 251.
• Purple Mountain Medicine Sage — Identifies his constitution and death restriction, converts him into a puppet, and absorbs part of his power 253 254.
• Liu Wushuang and Wang Lihong — Vanguard subordinates who remain unaware of the conversion and become convinced of “Lingyunzi’s” abilities under Wang Yan’s concealed leadership 254 273.