Xu Xuan

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Xu Xuan (许玄)
Alias(es)	Mu Youdu — assumed identity as a dragon scion of Great Mist Marsh 38 43 44
Species/Race	Human; later creates a flood-dragon incarnation with a genuine Great Mist Marsh bloodline 1 42
Gender	Male 1
Affiliation	Great Red Abbey 1
Occupation/Role	Sect master, sword cultivator, and cultivation teacher 1 2 40
Cultivation	Seventh level of Qi Refining; follows the Shock Thunder path 42
Residence	True Abode Hall, Azure Sky Peak 2 50
Status	Alive; returns to his original body after bringing Wei Fayan back toward the sect 50
First Appearance	Chapter 1, “Choosing a Disciple” 1

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Sword affinity and Sword Qi	1	Retrospectively described: the White Jade Ancient Stele manifested eight seal-script characters when Chongyangzi destroyed the demonic mountain. The inscription granted Xu sword affinity and helped him become a True Disciple.
Fourth level of Qi Refining	1	His cultivation at his introduction, when he already leads the weakened Great Red Abbey.
Fifth level of Qi Refining	2	Emerges after three years of seclusion; his Sword Qi carries faint lightning.
Mystic Prayer Thunderwood refined	11	His Dark Flood Dragon inscription suppresses the wood’s remaining sentience. The rooted treasure strengthens lightning techniques by 20% and provides a one-use vitality reserve.
Peak of the fifth level	13	Consumes the Spirit-Gathering Blood Pill, replacing roughly three more years of cultivation with an immediate increase.
Sixth level of Qi Refining; Life Foundation formed	13	Survives drawing heavenly lightning into his body. A deep-purple lightning streak forms around the thunderwood, creating a small thunder marsh; magical reserves double, his thunder art strengthens, and his cloud mount becomes faster.
Body and Cinnabar Thunder strengthened	18	The Golden-Armored Purple Mansion True Person heals and empowers him after subjecting him to crushing spiritual pressure.
Starlight art mastered	24	Condenses starlight into a translucent mani jewel above the thunderwood after learning Starlight Upper-Heavens Illumination.
Sword comprehension improved	26	Liu Xiaowen’s attainment of sword momentum sends a faint strand of clear qi back to Xu, strengthening his own sword cultivation.
Sword Qi further condensed	32	Develops more lethal Sword Qi and achieves partial success in guiding it into his purple lightning; Sword Intent remains beyond him.
Full awakening of Dark Flood Dragon Commands Thunder	35	Transferring Sun-Flint Descent of Fire to Xiaowen unlocks Xu’s thunder seal. His physique and thunder control improve, the Upper Firmament Thundercloud forms, and Sword Qi merges with thunder.
Jade Blood Heart formed	40	Reaches the initial manifestation of Jade Blood Heavenly Heart Art. His current cultivation permits one additional extraordinary manifestation.
Second manifestation: Sky-Venerating Eye	41 42	A near-fatal encounter with an ancient sword impression, followed by Jingyan’s healing, produces an eye that penetrates illusions and restores mental clarity.
Seventh level of Qi Refining confirmed	42	His newly created incarnation explicitly matches his original body at this level; the breakthrough itself is not shown in the supplied passages.
Flood-dragon incarnation created	42	Uses Six Paths of Rebirth and the Mysterious Yin Reverse Scale to create a tougher external body capable of using his cultivation methods and secret arts.
Fifth-grade Shock Thunder inheritance acquired	45	Endures the Law-Observing Hall’s lightning trials and receives the Marsh Thunder Dragon-Treading Scripture, an advanced continuation of his existing path.

Background / History

Xu Xuan is a transmigrator who retains memories of a previous life. He arrived in this world as an eight-year-old orphan in a freezing thatched shed. After he sheltered beside a calf in Liu Shengshui’s cattle pen, Liu discovered him and saved him with hot soup. White Ridge Village’s households subsequently took turns supporting him under their customary rules 1 19.

At twelve, Xu was taken into the Great Red Abbey by Chongyangzi, also identified as Wen Fufeng. He remembers meeting his master while hungry and helping move the victims of a demonic massacre. The White Jade Ancient Stele’s first seal-script manifestation gave him sword affinity, opening his path as a True Disciple and sword cultivator 1 4 9.

Xu succeeded his master after the Demon Calamity. By his introduction, the abbey had lost much of its territory and retained only three mountains, leaving him to collect dues and recruit disciples personally. Although his master’s death was associated with fighting demons, Wang Xiwei later reveals that a mysterious decree killed him; Xu still does not know who caused it or which powerful figures stood behind his master 1 8 40.

Appearance

• Human form: Initially looks scarcely thirty, with signs of age around his eyes and brows. His habitual expression is stern and unsmiling 1.
• Clothing: Usually wears a plain black Daoist robe; its style includes fiery-cloud embroidery 2 3 6.
• Eyes: Lightning can flicker in his sharply contrasted black-and-white eyes when his hostility surfaces 8.
• After forming his Life Foundation: His burned skin sheds to reveal jade-like new skin, and his black hair becomes lustrous 13.
• Flood-dragon incarnation: Wears azure-scale armor, with lightning around jade horns and a dusky-gray reverse scale at his neck 42.
• Sky-Venerating Eye: An additional heavenly eye grows between his brows 42.

Personality

Xu’s severity is partly deliberate. He remains grateful to White Ridge Village and puts on few airs with its elders, but avoids excessive familiarity because others might use his name to intimidate villagers. His protective instincts extend to displaced mortals: when Tiantuo accuses him of hypocrisy for helping starving refugees, Xu admits simply that their suffering moved him 1 48.

As sect master, he is cautious, practical, and willing to negotiate. He questions suspiciously generous offers, conceals dangerous resources, and avoids unnecessary confrontations with stronger factions. Within the abbey, he praises younger disciples and values Jiang Chiyu’s administrative work despite the older disciple’s limited cultivation 2 3 14 21 43.

His moral compromises are conscious rather than self-excusing. Before consuming a pill made from mortal blood, he acknowledges that preserving the sect does not make the act righteous and accepts its karmic consequences. Later, he refuses Tiantuo’s demand to capture cultivators for blood essence and rejects methods that would turn him into a demon 13 36.

Xu is more guarded in personal matters. Wen Si’an’s question about taking a Dao companion flusters him, and he answers by putting the sect first. His worries about leadership and his master’s death often remain unspoken even around those closest to him 7 22 40.

Abilities & Skills

Shock Thunder Cultivation

• Cultivates the third-grade Thunder Radiance Spirit-Inquiry Method, an incomplete Shock Thunder inheritance whose Life Foundation requires drawing lightning into the body 2 4 8.
• His Life Foundation produces a purple-lightning thunder marsh that refines spiritual energy and strengthens his lightning techniques 13.
• Great Thunder-Prayer Radiance undergoes a qualitative increase after the Life Foundation forms; he later releases it through his sword together with dragonlike Sword Qi 16 49.
• Acquires the fifth-grade Marsh Thunder Dragon-Treading Scripture, which contains two fifth-grade secret arts and one fourth-grade art 45 48.
• Learns that Shock Thunder concerns the union of yin and yang and the renewal of life, rather than punishment on heaven’s behalf. He consequently recognizes the danger of building his foundation on the divergent Tribulation Heart Pool path 48.

Swordsmanship

• Fully comprehends the Congming One-Qi Sword Art and cultivates Sword Qi, placing him among the foremost sword users of his generation in southern Red Cloud 22 49.
• Uses meticulous Sword Qi work on Jade Beauty Bamboo to improve spiritual-sense concentration and control, although the exercise is mentally exhausting 20.
• Combines Sword Qi with thunder after his thunder seal fully awakens 35.
• Defeats Empty-Handed with a powerful Thunder Marsh sword attack 50.
• Has not attained Sword Intent. Tiantuo identifies completing Sword Rises from the Deep Abyss as his most reliable potential route toward it 32 42.

White Jade Ancient Stele and Seal Scripts

• The stele resides in his qi sea, accumulates clear qi, and manifests ancient seal-script inscriptions. It later takes the illusory form of a White Jade Heavenly Palace 1 37.
• Sword Rises from the Deep Abyss supports his sword affinity and comprehension; Dark Flood Dragon Commands Thunder governs his thunder-related gifts 18 26 35.
• His original eight characters increased his spiritual root by four inches. Linking Xiaowen to Sun-Flint Descent of Fire increases the disciple’s root by two inches 21.
• His connection with Xiaowen allows the disciple’s sword advancement to nourish Xu in return 26.
• The awakened thunder seal creates an Upper Firmament Thundercloud capable of gathering thunder-aligned beings, drawing in Cinnabar Thunder and thunder-sleeping insects 35.
• The stele suppresses the invasive blood flower and later counters Empty-Handed’s mind-disrupting techniques 19 50.
• Keeps the artifact secret because its ability to alter spiritual roots could draw lethal attention from powerful cultivators 21.

Jade Blood Heavenly Heart Art

• An ancient blood-essence art supplied by Tiantuo, who describes it as predating the corruption of the Blood Qi tradition 37.
• Its Jade Blood Heart strengthens spiritual perception, generates magical power, and accelerates repair of the magical body 37 40.
• The complete art has nine manifestations; Xu’s Qi Refining cultivation allows only the heart and one further manifestation 40.
• His second manifestation, Sky-Venerating Eye, penetrates illusions and rapidly restores clarity when his mind is bewitched 42.

Six Paths of Rebirth and Flood-Dragon Incarnation

• Creates an external body by nourishing Tiantuo’s Mysterious Yin Reverse Scale with blood qi and placing his consciousness within it 42.
• The incarnation matches his original cultivation, reproduces his techniques, and has tougher flesh 42 50.
• Can sense and exercise limited control over his original body, returning to it with a thought 42.
• Its genuine Great Mist Marsh bloodline supports his disguise as Mu Youdu; he supplements it with Dragon Court lore and altered sword techniques 42 44.
• Uses transformations during travel, including a human disguise and carp form 48 50.
• Stores the incarnation within the Upper Firmament Thundercloud, but it provides no enhancement because it lacks innate spirituality 42.

Starlight Upper-Heavens Illumination

• A third-grade secret art chosen for its broad compatibility with different cultivation traditions 23.
• Draws in starlight and gives it a nature suited to the practitioner’s Daoist arts 23.
• Uses Light of the Upper Heavens to reveal the Beast Gu hidden inside a mountain ogre’s skull 33.
• Initially loses most of the gathered starlight to the blood flower; the stele and his lightning help refine what remains 23.

Gu Craft

• Gains portions of the True Method of Poison-Watching and Gu-Wielding, including gu-raising arts and information on fire poisons 32.
• Declines to cultivate the Red-Fighting Centipede branch because it is dangerous and difficult to conceal 32.
• Initially considers Thunder-Sleeping Gu but lacks materials; thunder-sleeping insects are later drawn into his awakened thundercloud 32 35.
• Maintains two kinds of gu by Chapter 34, while observing that their powers are weaker than ancient descriptions suggest 34.
• Recognizes Beast Gu’s role in sustaining corpse-like monsters and destroys the exposed insect controlling the mountain ogre 33.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Cinnabar Thunder — Mid-grade Qi Refining sword given by his master. It later manifests as a Thunder Sparrow and becomes part of his thundercloud 3 18 35 36.
• Constant Light — His master’s mid-grade Foundation Establishment sword; jade-like, eight-faceted, and patterned with flowing clouds. Xu initially leaves it at the abbey because of its value, then takes it to investigate gu-created demons 2 3 32.
• Sleeping Locust Shade — Mid-grade wood-path vestment worn beneath his robe. Repels blood and filth, cleanses karmic burdens, and helps heal his body, but offers relatively poor protection against blades and flames 3.
• Mystic Prayer Thunderwood — Wang Xiwei’s carefully prepared gift. Rooted in Xu’s qi sea, it strengthens lightning techniques by 20%; its emergency vitality reserve can be used once and severely damages the wood 8 11.
• Red Sparrow — Heirloom robe received from Wen Si’an before Chen Weiyuan’s birthday celebration 9.
• Universalizing Thunderfire Pearl — Fire Crow gift used to withstand the Law-Observing Hall’s lightning trials and attack opponents 43 45 46.
• Perching-Flame True Feather — Protection received after his oath with the Fire Crows. Contains a spark of the Purple Mansion Bing Fire known as Crimson Origin Dissolution Fire 47.
• Flame-Walking Token — Yang Yuanxin’s token granting access and reception in Mountain Flame City 38 43.
• Spirit-Gathering Blood Pill — Consumed to reach the peak of fifth-level Qi Refining. Made from mortal blood and secretly carries the emotion-manipulating Divine Ability Turmoil of Emotion, later removed by Tiantuo 13 36.
• Rainfall Spirit-Walking Art — Third-grade cultivation method surrendered by Cang Shi in exchange for his life 45.
• Liquor gourd — Green-skinned gourd painted with purple lightning, carried at his waist and filled with strong liquor 1.

Relationships

Family, Teachers, and Disciples

• Chongyangzi / Wen Fufeng — Late master and Wen Si’an’s father. Rescued Xu from poverty, taught him cultivation, and left a moral legacy that continues to shape his choices 1 4 13.
• Wang Xiwei — Senior martial brother and trusted partner in leading the abbey. Looked after Xu from childhood and spent ten years preparing the thunderwood needed for his Life Foundation 2 8 13.
• Wen Si’an — Junior martial sister and childhood companion. Supports him with personal savings and cultivation work; their closeness carries unresolved romantic tension, but no Dao-companion relationship is established 7 9 18 22.
• Liu Xiaowen — Disciple recruited from White Ridge Village. Xu nurtures his exceptional aptitude, prepares him for the spirit-spring trial, and entrusts him with Sun-Flint Descent of Fire 1 23 35.
• Liu Xingfang — Eight-inch-root disciple accepted from the Liu Household after Xu obtains assurances against clan interference 40.
• Wei Fayan — Dangerous ten-year-old Wei descendant taken into Xu’s care. Xu chooses to guide and discipline him rather than kill or exploit him 50.
• Wang Qiyun — Martial nephew whose forging and formation work Xu encourages. Xu helps arrange his marriage to Shen Shu 2 7 8 34.
• Jiang Chiyu — Sect administrator whose loyalty and practical competence Xu explicitly values despite his limited cultivation 21.
• Liu Shengshui — Childhood lifesaver and Xiaowen’s grandfather. Xu addresses him respectfully as “Uncle Shengshui” 1.

Allies and Associates

• Tiantuo — Ancient demon confined within Xu’s inner realm; adviser and wary oath-bound partner. Promises help toward Purple Mansion in exchange for a future Seal Script, but Xu postpones the transfer until that realm to protect the sect 36 37.
• Liu Qiuqi — Political ally and Ghost Market contact. Their cooperation begins as mutual protection against stronger factions and extends to preparing their juniors for the spirit-spring trial 4 23 27.
• Chen Weiyuan — Powerful ally of Xu’s master whose intervention deterred neighboring factions after the master’s death 2.
• Chen Xiyue — Former student who greets Xu warmly at the Chen estate and later defends his blood-essence-assisted breakthrough 9 19.
• Jingyan — Great Moonlight Temple monk who warns Xu about the shamanic plot, heals him after the ancient sword vision, and honors an old debt to the abbey 41 42.
• Yang Yuanxin — Fire Crow host and expedition partner who knows him as Mu Youdu. Helps him enter Surging Tribulation Heaven and supports his freedom to travel 38 44 47.
• Dao Yan / Flame-Treader and Yang Yuanyi — Fire Crow leaders who verify his borrowed dragon identity and bind him by oath to a future search for Thunder Tribulation Liquid 43 44 47.

Adversaries

• Xie Shu — Black Wind Valley leader seeking to destroy Wen Fufeng’s legacy through Xu. Obtains his blood and plans to transform him through a Demon Embryo 24 33.
• Xie Miao — Black Wind Valley attacker who ambushes Xu with a Beast Gu-controlled ogre and escapes carrying his blood on a bone saber 33.
• Cihai and Chifa — Lotus Temple opponents. Cihai orders Chifa to obstruct Xu’s cultivation; Chifa repeatedly challenges him and escapes through temple vow power 14 34.
• Yuan Zheng and Heavenly Poison Mountain — Conspirators who target Xu as a possible sacrifice for a shamanic spiritual sword tied to the Calamity Poison lineage 34 41 42.
• Empty-Handed — Skilled desert swordsman defeated during Xu’s search for Wei Fayan. Xu spares him and leaves healing pills; they part without lasting hostility 49 50.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Rebuilding the Great Red Abbey

• Recruits Xiaowen while the abbey struggles with lost territory, departed disciples, poor harvests, and a depleted treasury 1 2.
• Secures political ties through Liu Qiuqi, the Chen Household, and Wang Qiyun’s marriage into the Autumn Gourd School 4 7 8 9.
• Forms his Life Foundation to improve the abbey’s defenses, then conceals the Earthflame Noon-Origin Tree discovered beneath White Stone Mountain 13 14.
• Acquires missing cultivation arts and formations while outside pressure continues; by Xiaowen’s Qi Refining breakthrough, the sect has five Qi Refining cultivators 22 23 34 35.

Blood Flower and Tiantuo

• An uncanny blood flower attempts to enter his consciousness sea, then takes root in his qi sea after the Dark Flood Dragon blocks it 17.
• Survives examination by a Golden-Armored True Person while his hidden treasures conceal themselves 18.
• Enters the flower’s inner realm and encounters Tiantuo, who removes the blood pill’s emotional influence 36.
• Swears an oath with Tiantuo, trading future access to a Seal Script for assistance toward Purple Mansion 36 37.

Shamanic Conspiracy

• Investigates artificially created demons and defeats the Beast Gu-controlled mountain ogre, but Xie Miao secures a sample of his blood 32 33.
• Learns from Jingyan that his inherited sword destiny connects him to an ancient pact involving Calamity Poison 41 42.
• Faces the possibility of being refined into a sword unless he develops the strength or Sword Intent needed to change his role in the ritual 34 41 42.

Surging Tribulation Heaven

• Assumes the identity Mu Youdu to obtain information and access to the Fire Crows’ expedition 38 43.
• Uses a flood-dragon incarnation while leaving his original body hidden under the public explanation of secluded cultivation 42 43.
• Wins the Marsh Thunder Dragon-Treading Scripture through lightning trials, defeats two attackers, and helps Yang Yuanxin and Bai Su escape the contested scripture hall 45 46.
• Agrees to return after reaching Foundation Establishment, locate Thunder Tribulation Liquid, and guide Flame-Treader to it 47.

Search for Wei Fayan

• A new Goat-Spirit Earth-Nurturing inscription directs his attention toward an abducted Wei descendant 48.
• Uncovers Ai Chenghui’s torture of Wei survivors and follows the child’s trail into the Cloudsunken Desert 49.
• Defeats Empty-Handed, retrieves Wei Fayan, and returns to his original body while considering how to explain the child’s origins to the sect 50.

Notable Quotes

“A wrong deed is a wrong deed. A thousand excuses are useless. As long as the sect's legacy survives, then if there is another life, let me enter the animal realm. That, too, will be my karma.” 13

“There's no need to feel guilty. Having you is a blessing for the sect.”
— To Jiang Chiyu 21

“The road of cultivation really is riddled with pitfalls. One wrong move, and you're beyond redemption through ten thousand calamities.” 48