Xiao Yan

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Xiao Yan (萧炎)
Alias(es)	Yan'er; Little Yan 123 152
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Xiao Clan; alliance with the Ancient Clan, Thunder Clan, and Flame Clan 155
Occupation/Role	Xiao Clan leader; Li Chen’s disciple; leader of resistance against the destruction of the Dou Qi Continent 123 154 155
Origin	Transmigrator living on the Dou Qi Continent 123
Martial Soul	Blazing Sun Giant Spirit, bestowed by Li Chen 127
Status	Alive; stripped of his strength and sent to the Great Thousand World 159
First Appearance	Xiao Clan’s engagement-breaking meeting 122

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Cultivation recovery begins	123 126	Removes the black ring responsible for absorbing his Dou Qi. The following morning, he confirms that his newly cultivated Dou Qi no longer disappears.
3.1-stage Dou Qi	127	Reached overnight after removing the ring; Li Chen identifies his level without a testing stele.
Blazing Sun Giant Spirit Martial Soul acquired	127	Li Chen bestows the Martial Soul after an awakening attempt produces no result. It greatly enhances his physical abilities but cannot be cultivated in a world without soul power.
Dou Zhe restored	134	Regains his former realm within six months. He credits the Martial Soul with allowing him to absorb pills while still at the Dou Qi stage.
Six-star Da Dou Shi	150	His confirmed cultivation at the Three-Year Agreement. Uses the Martial Soul to overcome Nalan Yanran’s one-star Dou Ling strength.
Dou Di	156	Xiao Yan and three allied clan leaders pool their resources to refine four Emperor Pills and become Dou Di before the ten-year deadline. His star rating is not specified.
Strength erased by Zeroing	159	Li Chen removes his strength in an instant, causing all Dou Qi within him to dissipate before his final attack.

Background / History

Declining Cultivation and Broken Engagement

Xiao Yan had previously reached Dou Zhe, but his cultivation regressed because the black ring inherited from his mother absorbed his Dou Qi. Yao Chen, whose soul inhabited the ring, had drawn on his energy for three years 123 127.

Nalan Yanran visited the Xiao Clan to end their engagement and offered admission to the Misty Cloud Sect as compensation. Xiao Yan regarded the offer as humiliation, but restrained his anger because retaliation would endanger his father and clan. He wrote a letter of annulment and established the Three-Year Agreement 122 123.

Becoming Li Chen’s Disciple

Li Chen offered to restore Xiao Yan’s cultivation if he accepted him as his master. Initially wary of the stranger, Xiao Yan changed his mind after Li Chen used the phrase “Odd plus even remains odd” to reveal their shared identity as transmigrators. He knelt, accepted the apprenticeship, and entrusted his mother’s ring to him 123.

After confirming his recovery, Xiao Yan followed Xiao Zhan’s advice to bring a sincere gift rather than arrive empty-handed. He chose inexpensive tea from Wutan City’s north street. Li Chen subsequently gave him the Blazing Sun Giant Spirit Martial Soul, assigned Yao Chen to guide his cultivation, and left Mo Yuan to teach him physical combat 126 127.

Taking Command of the Xiao Clan

Once Xiao Yan regained Dou Zhe cultivation, Li Chen challenged him to secure the clan’s obedience before receiving weapons. He taught him that strength comprised intelligence, fighting prowess, wealth, authority, and charisma, then promised a sixth-rank magical beast mount if he united the clan 134 135.

Xiao Yan’s first attempt failed: the elders demanded convincing evidence or an immediate benefit, and he had no workable proposal beyond Li Chen’s promise. He changed his approach by winning support among his peers and learning clan management from Xiao Zhan. Eventually, he gained a voice in more than half the clan’s affairs, with Xiao Ning and younger members of the Second Elder’s faction supporting him 136 143.

Li Chen assigned the Amethyst Winged Lion King to him and ordered him to unify Wutan City before expanding toward the Jia Ma Empire. The beast’s arrival secured the entire clan’s obedience. The Jia Lie and Oba families surrendered, placing their businesses, mineral veins, and medicinal herb stores under Xiao Clan management. Xiao Yan then targeted nearby towns and recruited their mercenary companies 143 144.

Expansion and the Three-Year Agreement

Jia Xingtian promised to make Xiao Yan a king and granted the Xiao Clan autonomy over territories it conquered in the Chu Yun Empire. Over two and a half years, the clan occupied most of that empire using Life-Burning Pills and Necromancy; fallen Dou Kings could continue fighting after death. Li Chen supplied Origin Plane administrators to manage the conquered territories 150.

Xiao Yan arrived at the Misty Cloud Sect with dozens of Dou Kings, but declared that they would not interfere in his duel. Nalan Yanran initially wounded and pressured him through her superior cultivation. He then activated Martial Soul Possession, nullified her attacks, and defeated her with a relentless counterattack 150 151.

Nalan Yanran refused the agreed penalty of becoming his slave and servant, instead taking her own life. Xiao Yan did not intervene. Yun Leng blamed him and attacked, escalating the confrontation into a battle between their forces. Yun Shan eventually discovered the Martial Soul’s weakness to reflected ice balls and defeated both Xiao Yan and the Amethyst Winged Lion King. Xiao Yan called for Yao Chen, whose Dou Zun presence and warning about Li Chen compelled Yun Shan to end the fighting 151 152.

Breaking with His Master

After years of research, Li Chen revealed that he intended to reduce the world’s matter and energy to essence and take it away. When Xiao Yan asked why he had accepted him as a disciple, Li Chen answered, “For fun.” Xiao Yan vowed to oppose him rather than abandon his soldiers and subjects. Li Chen allowed him ten years to grow stronger and left him a Transformation Table 154.

The Origin Plane administrators then seceded with most of the Xiao Clan’s territory, leaving it control around Wutan City and three western Jia Ma provinces. Xiao Yan reorganized the clan, ordered cultivation methods and Dou Techniques opened to every disciple, and entrusted military command to Xiao Ning. He secured cooperation from Gu Yuan, Lei Ying, and Yan Jin at Jia Nan Academy and recruited further allies against the destruction spreading across the continent 155.

Heavenly Tower and Defeat

Near the deadline, Xiao Yan and the three clan leaders became Dou Di and entered the Central Plains. The Evil Emperor’s projection incapacitated him through a previously planted fear seed. After retreating, Xiao Yan identified his own fear as the source of the enemy’s growing strength and proposed an immediate, coordinated attack. He endured the renewed visions while his allies defeated the guardian 156 157.

The group passed Mo Yuan’s floor, and Xiao Yan beat Electrolux’s rigged card game by secretly replacing his hand. They fought together through later Dou Di-level opponents, but Wine Fox erased their coordinated surprise attack with the single word “Invalid.” The tower’s guardians had held back, allowing Xiao Yan to reach Li Chen 158 159.

Li Chen used Zeroing before Xiao Yan could make his final attack. Even without Dou Qi, Xiao Yan charged at him, only to be immobilized and forced to watch the continent being refined. Li Chen ultimately sent him through a rift to the Great Thousand World 159.

Appearance

• After several months of leadership training, Xiao Yan is described as taller and more tanned, with a markedly changed bearing 143.
• His Blazing Sun Giant Spirit manifests behind him as a phantom whose exterior resembles lava 127.

Personality

Xiao Yan is proud but initially able to restrain himself for his family’s sake. He suppresses his anger at Nalan Yanran’s offer because his father and clan would bear the consequences. His early trust in Li Chen rests partly on their shared identity as transmigrators, although he initially questions whether a stranger can truly restore his cultivation 123.

Warfare makes him colder toward individual deaths. After witnessing tens of thousands die in the Chu Yun campaigns, he accepts Nalan Yanran’s decision to kill herself rather than fulfill their agreement. This hardening does not erase his sense of responsibility: he later refuses to abandon his soldiers and subjects, even when opposing the master who gave him his advantages 151 154.

He becomes increasingly practical under pressure. After failing to persuade the elders, he builds support from younger clan members instead. During the resistance, he concentrates resources, shares previously restricted techniques, and seeks powerful allies rather than attempting to confront Li Chen alone 143 155 156.

Abilities & Skills

Blazing Sun Giant Spirit Martial Soul

A power from another world, bestowed directly by Li Chen using a Spawn Egg of a Sky Realm boss 127.

• Physical enhancement: Increases strength, defense, speed, and reflexes, and permits brief periods airborne 127.
• Damage resistance: While its protective mechanics are active, non-ice attributes cannot injure him; ordinary ice attacks have half their damage negated 150.
• Automatic counterattacks: Dealing or receiving sufficient damage triggers a fireball. Every fourth projectile is an ice ball; the projectiles pursue the opponent 150.
• Reflected-projectile weakness: Returning its own ice ball injures Xiao Yan and turns the phantom blue. Yun Shan exploits this opening to defeat him 152.
• Cultivation limit: The Dou Qi Continent lacks soul power, so Xiao Yan cannot cultivate the Martial Soul there 127.
• Pill absorption: Enables him to absorb cultivation pills before reaching Dou Zhe 134.

Dou Qi and Weapon Combat

Trained in Dou Qi cultivation by Yao Chen and physical combat by Mo Yuan 127.

• Mo Yuan uses gravity alteration during six months of body tempering 135.
• Fights with the Heavy Xuan Ruler through broad sweeps, rapid transitions, and defensive blocks 150.
• Channels Dou Qi into the ruler to strengthen its flames and burn away incoming sword-energy attacks 150.
• At Dou Di, can reinforce space alongside his allies to prevent an opponent from escaping through spatial abilities 157.

Alchemy and Necromancy

Receives alchemy instruction from Yao Chen and Necromancy instruction from Electrolux, also called Elder Yi 147.

• Necromancy supports the Xiao Clan’s armies by allowing dead Dou Kings to continue fighting 150.
• Helps gather the resources for four Emperor Pills so that he and the three allied clan leaders can become Dou Di 156.

Leadership and Strategy

Develops from an inexperienced petitioner into the Xiao Clan’s leader and organizer of a continental resistance 136 155.

• Builds authority through peer support, demonstrated effort, and clan-management experience 143.
• Consolidates surrendered families’ resources instead of destroying them 144.
• Recruits mercenaries from surrounding towns and delegates occupation duties 144.
• Recognizes the Evil Emperor’s dependence on his fear and devises a coordinated opening attack 157.
• Defeats Electrolux’s rigged card challenge by covertly replacing his hand 158.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Heavy Xuan Ruler — Main weapon in the Three-Year Agreement and his final attempt against Li Chen; supports Dou Qi-infused flame attacks 150 158 159.
• Black ring — Keepsake from his mother that housed Yao Chen and absorbed his Dou Qi; surrendered to Li Chen to halt his regression 123.
• Fourth-rank Qi Gathering Powder — Apprenticeship gift from Li Chen 123 126.
• Bottle o’ Enchanting — Drank directly during Li Chen’s experiment. It produced no Dou Qi increase and only a fleeting trace of soul power before he received his Martial Soul 127.
• Transformation Table — Left to him by Li Chen when the ten-year challenge began 154.

Relationships

• Li Chen — Master and fellow transmigrator who restores his cultivation and sponsors his rise. Their relationship becomes antagonistic when Xiao Yan learns that Li Chen intends to destroy the world 123 154 159.
• Xiao Zhan — Father and initial clan leader; supports his recovery, teaches him appropriate gratitude, and gradually entrusts him with clan affairs 123 126 143.
• Yao Chen / Yao Lao — Dou Qi and alchemy instructor. Teaches Xiao Yan partly to repay the three years spent absorbing his energy, and later saves him from Yun Shan 127 147 152.
• Mo Yuan — Physical-combat teacher who tempers his body through gravity training; later confronts him as a Heavenly Tower guardian 127 135 158.
• Electrolux / Elder Yi — Respected Necromancy teacher. Their final lesson occurs as enemies, when Xiao Yan must beat his rigged card game to advance 147 158.
• Nalan Yanran — Former fiancée and opponent in the Three-Year Agreement. Loses their duel but dies rather than accept its stipulated penalty 123 150 151.
• Xiao Xun’er — Her concern for Xiao Yan is exploited by Li Chen to secure her cooperation. Xiao Yan asks about her disappearance once during the six months following her abduction 125 134.
• Amethyst Winged Lion King — Sixth-rank mount and protector assigned by Li Chen; secures the clan’s obedience and shields Xiao Yan from Yun Shan 143 144 152.
• Xiao Ning — Early supporter among his peers and later commander of the reorganized Xiao Clan army 143 155.
• Gu Yuan, Lei Ying, and Yan Jin — Allied clan leaders who become Dou Di alongside him and accompany him through the Heavenly Tower 155 156 157 158.
• Evil Emperor — Secretly plants a fear seed in Xiao Yan and later uses it against him as the tower’s first guardian 156 157.

Notable Quotes

“Miss Nalan, for the sake of Old Master Nalan, Xiao Yan offers you a few words: do not bully a young man into poverty, for thirty years east of the river may become thirty years west of the river!” 123

“I'll use what you taught me against you. The soldiers who follow me out there, the people under the Xiao Clan's rule—I won't abandon a single one.” 154

“Is this what you meant when you said everything has a price? Then what price did you pay for destroying the world?” 155