Xuan Zi

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Xuan Zi is Mu En’s martial nephew. Mu En is the youngest disciple of Xuan Zi’s grandmaster and personally guided Xuan Zi for more than two hundred years, making their relationship close to that of master and disciple despite their relatively small age difference 158.

Before the main tournament expedition, Xuan Zi had already led an Inner Academy team involved in a fatal incident. Shrek’s senior leadership kept his responsibility secret; Mu En feared that revealing it would cause Du Busi to refuse to let Huo Yuhao travel under Xuan Zi’s protection 137.

Xuan Zi also avenged Zhang Lexuan when she was eleven or twelve. In exchange, he required her to protect Shrek Academy for life and become Bei Bei’s child bride. He later released her from that oath 312.

Before Mu En’s death, Xuan Zi was second-in-command of the Sea God Pavilion. Mu En named him as his successor because he was then Shrek’s strongest remaining expert, while again warning him against impulsive decisions 156 303.

Appearance

Xuan Zi initially has a disheveled, almost beggar-like appearance. After becoming Sea God Pavilion Master, he adopts clean cloth garments, combs his hair neatly, and secures it with a bone hairpin 44 49 305.

• Habitual accessories: A wine gourd and chicken leg frequently accompany him 44 288.
• Mourning attire: Wears white cloth around his waist and black gauze around his arms after Mu En’s death 305.
• Evolved Martial Soul Avatar: A thousand-meter-long yellow Taotie with blood-red eyes, surrounded by nine red soul rings and a bloody haze 548.

Personality

Xuan Zi is headstrong, quick-tempered, and highly sensitive to challenges to his authority. Mu En repeatedly criticizes his lack of composure. When confronted by Huo Yuhao, he often turns to threats or punitive decisions rather than answering the criticism 50 65 136 175.

His devotion to Shrek’s reputation repeatedly overrides concern for its students. After Dai Yueheng loses his legs, Xuan Zi prioritizes managing publicity and preventing the incident from spreading over obtaining timely treatment. He also refuses to withdraw the devastated tournament team because Shrek’s honor must be preserved 156 157.

He can recognize exceptional abilities: he praises Xiao Xiao’s twin martial souls and eventually understands the strategic value of Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection Sharing. However, his initial assessment of Huo Yuhao remains fixed on innate soul power and soul-ring age despite repeated victories 47 48 51 137.

After assuming leadership, his conduct becomes openly predatory. He devours a dissenting colleague, threatens Yan Shaozhe’s loved ones, and describes killing Elder Song as a lawful punishment for disobedience 323 420.

Abilities & Skills

Godly Taotie Bull / Taotie

His original martial soul contains Taotie bloodline and is described as a top-tier earth-attribute beast martial soul with true-dragon lineage. It eventually evolves into a complete Taotie 62 291 548.

• Uses Martial Soul Possession and Martial Soul Avatar to amplify his combat power 291 315.
• Originally possesses one Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring and one Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone 314.
• His completed Taotie true body is accompanied by nine Hundred Thousand Year Soul Rings 548.

Earth Manipulation

Xuan Zi can mobilize earth-attribute Heaven and Earth Origin Power for protection and large-scale techniques 291 315.

• Protective walls: Raises defenses around Huo Yuhao and the other students during the Twin Cyclops’s attack 291.
• Heaven and Earth Resonance: Connects with the earth’s energy; explicitly exceeds the power of his ninth soul skill without being a soul skill itself 291.
• Heaven Mending: An innate martial-soul ability that creates a crystalline yellow barrier and attempts to seal destructive spatial openings 315.
• Limit: Heaven Mending fails to suppress Huo Yuhao’s Ice Explosion, which is empowered by Elder Qin’s remains and the Ice God’s power 315.

Taotie Devouring

Xuan Zi uses Taotie’s devouring power to consume others and strengthen himself. Gong Changlong’s death directly precedes improvements to his soul rings and damaged soul core 323.

• Devours Gong Changlong through a blood-red maw, leaving no visible body behind 323.
• Seeks Bei Bei’s Radiant Sacred Dragon bloodline to help reach Limit Douluo 420.
• Orders the capture of nine young dragon soul masters to drain their bloodlines and advance his martial soul 420.
• Plans to consume rank 97 Song Qing, believing her energy will enable him to condense a second soul core 420.
• Huo Yuhao suspects that missing Elders Chen, Zhao, and Sun were also consumed; their deaths are not directly shown in the supplied passages 420.

Spiritual Power

His spiritual strength allows him to influence weaker students and resist mental abilities 136 137.

• Uses spiritual power to make students cry during his speech about the Inner Academy 136.
• Instinctively blocks Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection Sharing before voluntarily allowing the connection 137.
• Huo Yuhao shields himself, Ning Tian, Wang Dong, and Xiao Xiao from the emotional effect of his speech 136.

Sea God Pavilion Reserves

As Pavilion Master, Xuan Zi deploys Shrek’s institutional resources alongside his own power 306 318.

• Vast Sea God-Imprisoning Array: Draws on the Golden Ancient Tree’s accumulated power to imprison Du Busi, Jin Peng, and Huang Huifeng 306.
• Tree poison: Conceals Golden Ancient Tree poison in wine to immobilize his guests while the array is prepared 306.
• Deployment limit: The array takes too long to establish unnoticed without a preliminary trap 306.
• Sea God Trident Clone: Uses One Way, No Return against Huo Yuhao’s Destruction Fire Lotus 318.
• Sea God’s Light: Cannot release it himself, despite holding the Pavilion Master position 314.

Combat and Instruction

Xuan Zi’s strength places him among the world’s leading Soul Masters, though the strongest opponents repeatedly expose his limitations 107 291.

• Extracts students from an arena threatened by a Fixed Soul Cannon Shell 134.
• Uses powerful suction to pull the Death Messenger from his cave 153.
• Defeats Ji Juechen, shattering his Heavenly Meteoric Iron Sword and knocking him unconscious 470.
• Trains the reserve team through unrestricted team battles, without physical conditioning or technique instruction 140.
• Loses to Du Busi and is overwhelmed by Huo Yuhao while the latter channels Di Tian’s power 62 319.
• As a Limit Douluo, is enclosed by Kong Deming’s spatially powered Silver Moon Divine Light Shield 548.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Wine gourd — Frequently carried and used while observing students or traveling 44 288.
• Chicken-leg-shaped weapon — Wielded against Huo Yuhao after their clash in the Mingdou Great Forest 318 319.
• Flying Soul Tool — Enables travel between Shrek City and Star Luo City within a single day 247.
• Sound-transmitting Soul Tool — A standard Sun Moon Empire device with a hundred-li range; used during Du Busi’s confrontation over Shrek’s recruitment attempts 100.

Relationships

• Mu En — Youngest martial uncle, longtime mentor, and predecessor. Repeatedly restrains and reprimands him, ultimately removing his teaching duties before naming him Pavilion Master 65 158 185 303.
• Huo Yuhao — Initially an underestimated student, later a recruitment target and enemy. Xuan Zi eventually brands him an Evil Soul Master, orders his capture, and vows to kill him 44 148 305 323.
• Du Busi — Rival and Huo Yuhao’s protector. Defeats Xuan Zi in combat and later becomes the victim of his poisoned banquet and imprisonment array 62 306.
• Yan Shaozhe — Recruitment partner and subordinate. Helps plan ways to retain Huo Yuhao; later faces violence and threats when Xuan Zi demands victims for devouring 100 265 420.
• Wang Yan — Grandstudent who repeatedly advocates for Huo Yuhao. Leaves Shrek after losing confidence in Xuan Zi’s judgment and leadership 47 51 323.
• Zhang Lexuan — Avenged by Xuan Zi as a child under coercive conditions; later admitted to the Sea God Pavilion 305 312.
• Bei Bei — Intended beneficiary of Zhang Lexuan’s childhood marriage oath; later targeted for his Radiant Sacred Dragon bloodline 312 420.
• Fan Yu and Zhou Yi — Beneficiaries of his leadership reshuffle. He appoints Fan Yu as Soul Tool Department dean and Zhou Yi as instructor for incoming exchange students 305.
• Gong Changlong — Shrek colleague devoured after demanding accountability for Huo Yuhao’s treatment 323.
• Song Qing — Senior elder whom he plans to consume for the energy needed to form a second soul core 420.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Freshman Assessment

• Dismisses Huo Yuhao’s prospects because of his recorded level-one innate soul power and ten-year first ring 44.
• Misjudges the fight against Xie Huanyue, then acknowledges that Huo Yuhao’s internal-force attack caused only controlled internal shock 46 47.
• Rejects Wang Yan’s repeated requests to make Huo Yuhao a Martial Soul Department core disciple 47 51.
• Clears Huo Yuhao of cheating after a demonstration of Mental Interference, but does not reverse his recruitment decision 51.
• Is defeated by Du Busi during the dispute over Huo Yuhao; Mu En subsequently rebukes him for overlooking the student’s potential 62 65.

Recruitment and Reserve-Team Training

• Proposes winning Huo Yuhao over through Shrek’s spirit and honor after direct recruitment provokes Du Busi’s threats 100.
• Personally promises to protect Huo Yuhao during the tournament journey 107.
• Selects Huo Yuhao, Ning Tian, Wang Dong, Xiao Xiao, Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, and Jiang Nannan as Shrek’s tournament reserve team 136.
• Arranges combat training with the Inner Academy team and considers how to foster Huo Yuhao’s attachment to Shrek 141 145.
• Stops a planned military operation against the Bloodthirsty Demons so the reserve team can face them instead. His intended rescue is meant to impress Huo Yuhao and encourage loyalty to the academy 148.

Mingdou Expedition Disaster and Tournament Conflict

• Condemns Huo Yuhao’s successful ambush tactics as dishonorable, despite being unable to answer his argument about minimizing casualties 150.
• During the Death Messenger incident, redirects Yao Haoxuan’s exploding remains toward Chen Zifeng 153.
• Learns that four main-team members have died, Dai Yueheng has lost his legs, and Ma Xiaotao is missing, but insists the tournament campaign continue 156.
• Offers to resign after the disaster. Mu En initially orders him to remain an instructor, then strikes him upon learning that his ban has caused Huo Yuhao to refuse participation 158.
• Later excludes Huo Yuhao again for promoting the Body Sect, substituting the recovering Ling Luochen 175.
• Mu En removes his teaching responsibilities, orders him back to Shrek, and transfers team command to Huo Yuhao 185.

Matchmaking Scheme and Holy Spirit Cult Attack

• Collaborates with Yan Shaozhe to use the Sea God’s Fate gathering to draw Huo Yuhao into Shrek’s influence 265.
• Opposes a relationship between Huo Yuhao and Ling Luochen because Shrek fears losing its Ultimate Ice Soul Master 278.
• Fights Zhongli Wu and Feng Ling when the Holy Spirit Cult attacks Shrek City to seize Huo Yuhao 280.
• After the battle, helps return the dying Mu En to the Sea God Pavilion 286.

Succession and Pursuit of Huo Yuhao

• Becomes Pavilion Master after Mu En’s death, replaces Xian Lin’er with Fan Yu, and orders Huo Yuhao captured based on testimony extracted from a hypnotized Xiao Xiao 303 305.
• Poisons and traps Huo Yuhao’s Body Sect protectors, revealing that he has contacted the Sea God from ten thousand years earlier 306.
• Pressures the Douluo Three Kingdoms to prevent Huo Yuhao’s escape and leads the pursuit into the Mingdou region 309 310 313.
• Fails to contain Huo Yuhao’s Ice Explosion. His Sea God Trident Clone subsequently clashes with the Destruction Fire Lotus, damaging his soul core 315 318.
• Faces Huo Yuhao’s Di Tian-powered counterattack, then returns to Shrek and devours Gong Changlong to begin repairing his injuries 319 323.

Predatory Rule and Later Encounters

• Threatens Yan Shaozhe into procuring dragon soul masters and arranging Song Qing’s death 420.
• Defeats Ji Juechen, but Kong Deming rescues him and an abducted female student 470.
• Appears as a Limit Douluo with a complete Taotie martial soul and nine red rings; Kong Deming traps him inside the Silver Moon Divine Light Shield 548.
• During a later trial with Xu Sanshi, both men vomit and are sent into Deep Adventure 557.

Notable Quotes

“Withdraw? No! Shrek's honor must not be compromised!” 156

“Dai Yueheng is already injured this badly. Whether he receives timely treatment is no longer important. What matters is keeping Shrek Academy's honor from suffering!” 157

“For Shrek Academy's ten thousand years of honor, your deaths are all worthwhile.” 323

Trivia

• The narration mockingly calls him “Titled Chicken Leg,” “Shrek’s greatest mole,” and the Holy Spirit Cult’s “honorary supreme elder.” These are satirical labels, not evidence of a formal cult appointment 44.
• His later identity as an Evil Soul Master is supported by his actual devouring of Gong Changlong and his planned consumption of other Soul Masters, rather than those early jokes alone 323 420 548.