Xiao Yan

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Before transmigrating, Xiao Yan lived on Earth without influential backing or reliable guidance. He struggled through working life and achieved only modest career success by thirty. His experience of having powerful people threaten the results of years of effort later shapes his hostility toward privileged bullies 3 26.

His new life unfolds in a changed worldline where Xiao Xuan became a Dou Di, killed Hun Tiandi, and destroyed the Hun Clan’s main power. The Xiao Clan consequently became the strongest faction on the Dou Qi Continent. Xiao Yan grew up with both parents alive, a Dou Sheng grandfather, a Dou Zun father, an accomplished alchemist mother, and two Dou Zong elder brothers. He did not experience the original story’s declining family circumstances or an old soul draining his Dou Qi 1 3.

Xiao Xuan reveals that a Jade Book descended during his failed breakthrough a thousand years earlier, supplying the Heaven and Earth Origin Qi that allowed him to become a Dou Di. Recognizing Xiao Yan as an otherworldly visitor, he predicts another struggle to attain Dou Di, including surviving Hun Clan descendants and an unknown contingency left by Hun Tiandi. He appoints Xiao Yan the clan’s third Emperor’s Son and forbids the lineage heads from acting against him before he reaches Dou Sheng 6 7 8.

Appearance

• Face: Fair, delicate, and handsome, often carrying a smile or a roguish expression 1 2 36.
• Eyes: Black; a green flame lion briefly appears within his pupils during body tempering 12.
• Clothing: Commonly wears black robes, including a finely crafted robe for his visit to the Scripture Hall 2 8 18.
• Markings: A flame is visible on his forehead after his appointment as Emperor’s Son; his first body-tempering session leaves a green lion tattoo on his back 8 12.

Personality

Xiao Yan presents himself as playful, lazy, and mischievous, but becomes intensely focused once he commits to a goal. He endures nearly an hour of agonizing body tempering without moving and later undertakes thirty Emperor’s Extreme Pill attempts in seven days. His private training is considerably harsher than his carefree public image suggests 12 29.

He despises the abuse of powerless Descendants, yet willingly uses his own superior backing to obtain what he wants. He punishes Xiao Jiande for attacking innocents while pressuring Yao Chen into handing over the Flame Mantra. His outlook is pragmatic rather than egalitarian: he accepts that strength determines bargaining power and that a stronger opponent could treat him similarly 16 19.

His pursuit of women is bold and manipulative. He repeatedly teases Dan Chen despite her distress, approaches Cao Ying after her defeat as an opportunity to win her over, and invokes his arranged marriage when negotiating their places in his life. Beneath that confidence, Cao Ying senses loneliness, and he privately experiences homesickness while drinking beneath the moon 33 36 37 50.

Abilities & Skills

Flame Mantra

An evolving cultivation method obtained from Yao Chen. Xiao Yan chooses it despite having access to superior conventional methods because he believes it is necessary to obtain the Dou Di inheritance 19 20.

• Evolution: Begins at low-grade Yellow tier and evolves by devouring flames; the Green Lion Demon Flame raises it to high-grade Yellow tier 19 21.
• Current weakness: Its Dou Qi remains much weaker than that produced by Earth-tier methods. Against Song Qing, his effective Dou Qi strength is compared to an ordinary One-Star Dou Emperor despite his two-star rank 42.
• Control limitation: Excessive output causes his flame to burst during his duel with Cao Ying 27.
• Acquisition barrier: Xiao Xuan does not permit him to take any Heavenly Flames from the clan’s valley, forcing him to seek flames elsewhere 11.

Crimson Refining Flame Demon Body

A high-grade Earth-tier body-refining Dou Technique created by the Flame Demon Venerable. It strengthens flesh and bones through flame tempering while increasing resistance to flames 9.

• Demonstrated strength: Gains a slight advantage in a direct clash with a Three-Star Dou Zong while still a Dou Emperor 15.
• Combat use: Activating the technique allows him to overwhelm Song Qing despite inferior Dou Qi 42.
• Training requirements: Full mastery requires nine different flame temperings, each leaving a corresponding tattoo; only his first tempering is documented 12.
• Potential ceiling: Ordinary full mastery can contend with a Dou Zun. Using nine Heavenly Flames to contend with a Dou Sheng is explicitly an untested theory, not Xiao Yan’s achieved strength 9 12.

Green Lion Demon Flame and Flame Control

His life-bound beast flame serves as both an alchemy flame and a combat tool. Having refined it at ten and used it for body tempering, he possesses strong resistance to its heat 19 21.

• Alchemy: Separates the flame into individual fireballs to purify multiple ingredients simultaneously 19.
• Fire-spirit condensation: Forms a smaller, denser azure lion with greater solidity and apparent sentience, a technique associated with many sixth-tier alchemists 27.
• Azure Lion Heavenly Demon Slash: Uses the condensed lion’s two pairs of wings as cutting blades against Cao Ying’s Demon Flame Gorilla 27.
• Safe absorption: Uses an Ice Heart Pulse-Protecting Pill to reduce pain while feeding the flame into the Flame Mantra, even though his established resistance makes the process nonfatal 21.

Movement and Combat Techniques

• Dou Qi Wings: Enables flight within the Xiao Realm and outside it 2 23.
• Heavenly Illusory Nine Shadows: A high-grade Earth-tier technique that produces black afterimages and lets him close on Xiao Jiande before the latter can react 2.
• Energy-body evasion: Causes Song Qing’s opening strike to pass through an energy body 42.
• Nine Illusory Flashes: Used alongside his enhanced physique to break Song Qing’s Profound Fire Shield and strike his chest 42.
• Dantian attacks: Disrupts Xiao Jiande’s circulating Dou Qi in their first confrontation and later abolishes his cultivation as punishment 2 16.

Alchemy and Soul Cultivation

His strong soul, clan training, and instruction from Yao Chen support unusually advanced alchemy at fifteen 19 29 45.

• Documented successes: Earth Dragon Pill, Void Spirit Pill, and the tournament Emperor’s Extreme Pill attempt 19 29 32 34.
• Recipe development: Experiments with an upgraded Emperor’s Extreme Pill during the Youth Class’s practical lessons 46.
• Limitations: Repeatedly fails the Emperor’s Extreme Pill during training; his later experimental version explodes when an interruption destabilizes its medicinal properties 29 49.
• Unreached rank: Yao Chen predicts seventh-rank alchemy within a year, or potentially sooner with a Heavenly Flame; that promotion has not yet occurred 46 50.

Historical Knowledge and Ingenuity

• Ancient history: Explains the decline of older cultivation schools, the disappearance of Dou Di experts, and the resulting loss of Emperor-grade alchemy to the Youth Class 40 41.
• Practical invention: Melts gold coins into rods and uses Xiao Li’s lightning Dou Qi to electrofish more than twenty Sky Dragon Golden-Scaled Fish 4.
• Entertainment equipment: Commissions a microphone and speaker system from a formation master using a fifth-rank Twin-Headed Heartsnake’s magic core and head 6.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Medicinal cauldron — Not on the Heavenly Cauldron Ranking, but judged by Yao Chen capable of handling eighth-tier pill refinement 19.
• Storage Rings — Leaves the Xiao Realm wearing ten. Xiao Lin’s black ring contains Earth-tier methods, eighth-tier pills, and natural treasures; Yao Xian supplies another ring stocked with pills and ingredients 17.
• Nalan compensation ring — A separate red ring containing three Earth-tier methods and skills, plus fifth- and sixth-tier pills, reserved for resolving his childhood engagement 17.
• Scripture Hall jade slips — Copies of Earth-tier methods, combat skills, pill formulas, and selected texts 9 10.
• Sound Transmission Jade Talisman — Used to remain reachable while exploring the Pill Tower 24.
• Spirit-Nurturing Pill Bottle — Made from ancient spirit jade; Xuan Kongzi estimates the bottle alone is worth nearly an ordinary eighth-tier pill 33.
• Pure Lotus Demon Saint’s Romantic Affairs — Receives a copy directly from the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame, its author 11.

Relationships

Family and Clan

• Xiao Xuan — Ancestor and principal patron. Recognizes his transmigration, appoints him Emperor’s Son, and arranges the Gu Clan marriage alliance 6 7 8.
• Xiao Lin — Grandfather and King Lineage head. A Dou Sheng who supplies travel resources and previously arranged Xiao Yan’s childhood betrothal to Nalan Jie’s granddaughter 6 8 17.
• Xiao Zhan — Father; a Dou Zun and Heavenly Imperial Army deputy commander, openly proud of his son’s talent 1.
• Yao Xian — Mother; a Yao Clan elder’s daughter and peak seventh-tier alchemist approaching eighth tier. Supplies body-refining liquid and extensive travel provisions 1 12 17.
• Xiao Ding and Xiao Li — Elder brothers, both Dou Zong. Xiao Li is a Five-Star Dou Zong, clan law-enforcement captain, and branch instructor who assists with Xiao Yan’s fishing scheme 1 3 4.
• Xiao Yu — Cousin whom he protects from Xiao Jiande; joins his celebrations and alerts him to the retaliation against his friends 2 3 6 12.
• Xiao Wen and Xiao Wu — Half-Saint guardians assigned after his appointment. Escort him outside the realm and provide the force behind his negotiations with Starfall Pavilion 8 17 18 19.
• Light Punishment Saint — Helps establish and enforce the case against Xiao Jiande, protecting Xiao Yan from a hostile Dou Zun elder 15.

Teacher, Allies, and Rivals

• Yao Chen / Yao Lao — Master, Flame Mantra provider, and alchemy instructor; also a distant relative through the Yao Clan. Their relationship combines genuine attachment, teasing, and Xiao Yan’s frequent pressure 19 22 23 29.
• Feng Xian — Starfall Pavilion deputy master who receives a high-grade Earth-tier wind technique from Xiao Yan 20.
• Han Feng — Senior fellow disciple. Xiao Yan distrusts him because of his knowledge of the original story, warns Yao Chen about his interest in the Flame Mantra, and repeatedly proposes taking his Sea Heart Flame 18 19 22 46.
• Song Qing — Youth Class teaching assistant defeated and humiliated after challenging Xiao Yan over Cao Ying 41 42.
• Xiao Jiande — Clan bully and enemy. Xiao Yan breaks his legs, then abolishes his Dou Qi and demotes him to a Descendant after the attack on Seven Spirit Village 3 15 16.

Romantic Connections

• Gu Xun’er — Intended principal wife through the Xiao–Gu marriage alliance. Xiao Yan later states that he is engaged to the ancient clan chief’s daughter 8 50.
• Nalan Jie’s granddaughter — Childhood fiancée. Xiao Yan agrees to end the engagement with generous compensation because the ancient clans’ marriage alliance could endanger her family; completion of the breakup is not shown 8 17.
• Dan Chen — Romantic pursuit whom he calls his “little wife.” His teasing initially frightens and upsets her; he later tells Xuan Yi that she has agreed to become his secondary wife 36 38 50.
• Cao Ying — Alchemy rival and romantic pursuit. He looks after her following the tournament defeat and later declares that he has reserved a concubine’s place for her; her acceptance is not established 34 35 50.
• Xuan Yi — Cao Ying’s teacher and Yao Chen’s old flame. Entrusts Cao Ying’s recovery to Xiao Yan, but challenges his intentions when she learns of his closeness to Dan Chen 34 50.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Seven Spirit Village Retaliation

• Defends Xiao Yu’s group from Xiao Jiande and breaks the bully’s legs 2 3.
• After Xiao Jiande targets his friends and the Descendants, obtains recorded evidence and confronts the Xiao Lu Lineage with the Light Punishment Saint 12 13 15.
• Sentences Xiao Jiande to lose his Dou Qi and clan registration, personally striking his dantian to enforce the punishment 16.

Departure and the Flame Mantra

• Leaves the Xiao Realm with supplies from his family and elders, accompanied by Xiao Wen and Xiao Wu 17.
• Goes first to Starfall Pavilion and secures Yao Chen’s discipleship and the Flame Mantra through a mixture of respect, pressure, and payment in valuable techniques 18 19 20.
• Accepts severe cultivation loss, then devours his beast flame to begin evolving the method 20 21.

Pill Tower Tournament and Youth Class

• Postpones his Heavenly Flame search to represent Yao Chen in the youth tournament after learning Cao Ying will compete 22.
• Trains intensively and outperforms Cao Ying through his sixth-grade pill refinement 29 31 32 34.
• Joins the Youth Class after learning Cao Ying and Dan Chen will attend, but declines the monitor position in favor of Ye Zhong 38.
• Defeats Song Qing, establishes his dominance among the students, and continues studying theory, refining pills, and strengthening his soul 42 44 45 46.

Yin-Yang Twin Flames Lead

• Receives news of the twenty-first-ranked Yin-Yang Twin Flames inside Dou Sheng ruins 50.
• Learns that intervention by his Half-Saint guardians could cause the flames and ruins to explode, making his usual protection difficult to use 50.
• Receives information on the ruins and the option of joining a Pill Tower expedition of Dou Emperor-level sixth-rank alchemists; his final choice is not yet shown 50.

Notable Quotes

“Since you like using your status and background to trample people, you ought to be prepared to get trampled yourself.” 3

“Heh, if I spare you, who will spare those innocent Descendants?” 16

“If you don’t become a Dou Sheng soon, I’ll be embarrassed to mention your name when I go out.” 19