Song Xuan

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Before transmigrating, Song Xuan worked as a game designer for an online gaming company. While testing the wuxia game Martial Arts Grand World, he combined the internal-cultivation portions of techniques including the Nine Yin Manual, Nine Yang Divine Skill, Muscle-Tendon Transformation Classic, Primordial Skill, Longevity Formula, and Bridal Robe Divine Skill. He lost consciousness during the fusion and awakened as a young child with a game panel and the Pure Yang Limitless Virgin Skill 1.

He grew up in the Song family, a hereditary Black Robe Guard household, and guided his younger sister Song Qian’s cultivation so that she could protect herself. Rather than risk his life seeking techniques from sects, he preferred cultivating quietly in the Imperial Capital. He suspected that his new world was Martial Arts Grand World, or a similar setting, but recognized that its living inhabitants and events could not be understood solely through game knowledge 1 3 7.

Appearance

• Build: Tall and slender 48.
• Features: Handsome enough that Sun Bu’er considers his wife’s celebrated beauty inferior to that of Song Xuan and Song Qian 11.
• Civilian clothing: Often wears white robes; in a scholar’s robe, he appears refined and courteous 23 34.
• Official clothing: His deep-black hundred-household commander’s robes give him an authoritative, intimidating presence 48.
• Cultivation effects: Pure yang energy can shine through his skin as a faint golden glow. During outdoor cultivation, mist above his head gives him an immortal-like appearance 7 23.

Personality

Song Xuan is cautious, practical, and protective of his own survival. He prepares concealed weapons, poisons, antidotes, and armor even for a bandit-suppression assessment, and refuses tea offered by strangers in unfamiliar surroundings. His reluctance to reveal his transmigration or cultivation method comes from concern that enemies could exploit the technique’s dependence on virginity 2 10 31.

Among colleagues, he is good-tempered, well-liked, and known for slacking off. He enjoys reading, drinking with friends, and listening to songs in pleasure houses. His interest in books is broad rather than examination-oriented; he reads for enjoyment and understanding, not to polish scholarly essays 8 31 43.

His treatment of money is pragmatic rather than strictly incorruptible. He refuses Tian Yuan’s enormous bribe because accepting it could expose him to deadly political retaliation, but accepts smaller spoils from Shen Lian and divides the silver equally among his companions. He also shares martial knowledge because he does not want his friends dying on future assignments 19 20.

Despite preferring a comfortable life, he becomes ruthless when confronting abusers or obstructive officials. He keeps promises of vengeance even when an opponent questions whether a common woman is worth the risk. His growing confidence remains tied to assessing his enemies: at the Thousand-Household Office, he discards restraint only after determining that no Xiantian expert is present 41 50.

Abilities & Skills

Game Panel

Song Xuan possesses a mental interface resembling a player’s status panel 3.

• Displays his age, identity, realm, reputation, techniques, equipment, mount, and current quest 3.
• Records newly obtained techniques, including Spiral Nine Shadows 24.
• Helped him recognize Huang Rong’s corrected manual as a genuine Grandmaster-level movement technique 24.

Pure Yang Limitless Child Skill

Also rendered as Pure Yang Limitless Virgin Skill, this Celestial Person-level internal art is the foundation of Song Xuan’s cultivation 1 3.

• Develops essence, qi, and spirit together, strengthening his body and mental faculties alongside internal power 3.
• Makes basic punches and sword strikes powerful enough to pierce a bandit’s chest and cleave both a rider and his horse 3.
• Enhances his physical speed so greatly that ordinary guards’ attacks appear to move in slow motion 17.
• Appears to improve his comprehension: he attributes his rapid mastery of a lightness manual to its effects 20.
• Limitation: He believes losing his virginity before reaching the Grandmaster Realm and forming a martial primordial spirit would ruin his cultivation 5 31.

Swordsmanship and Sword Qi

Song Xuan initially compensates for his lack of advanced sword techniques through overwhelming speed and internal power 3 17.

• A seemingly single stroke that takes twelve heads is actually more than a dozen strikes delivered too quickly for observers to follow 18.
• Releases Sword Qi while still in Houtian; the attack carves a trench into the road 23.
• Practices Sword Qi by cutting through trees and shattering rocks 24.
• Defeats Zhou Tailai with a single Sword Qi strike 41.
• Places himself at the second realm at most in his own Sword Dao framework, while acknowledging that he still lacks a powerful sword art 44.

Movement Techniques

• Flying over Grass: A beginner lightness technique that, reinforced by his internal power, lets him close on a bandit almost instantly 3.
• Unnamed lightness skill: Learned from a manual recovered during the Tian Household case 20.
• Spiral Nine Shadows: A Grandmaster-level technique from the second volume of the Nine Yin Manual. At an advanced level, it can produce nine afterimages; acquiring the manual does not establish that Song Xuan has reached that proficiency 24.

Internal-Energy Control and Improvised Weapons

Song Xuan can turn ordinary objects into lethal projectiles through precise control of his internal power 17 40 41.

• Shatters a saber and directs its fragments into charging guards, a feat Shen Lian cannot reproduce despite being able to break the weapon himself 17.
• Kills armed attackers with droplets flicked from a paper umbrella 40.
• Explodes an umbrella into paper fragments that cut through the remaining guards 41.

Investigation and Interrogation

• Identifies the suspicious pattern of repeated adultery convictions with no male accomplices arrested, connecting them to concealed sexual assaults 13 14.
• Uses repeated, shifting questions and threats of imprisonment to break Squire Shen’s composure during a murder investigation 27.
• Helps expose Wang Shi’s false testimony 28.
• Detects poison in Lin Ruhai’s incense and removes the burner before administering a Lesser Rejuvenation Pill 46.
• Recognizes that Xu Chang’an’s internal injuries contradict the official finding of drunken drowning 48.

Sword Dao Theory

Song Xuan develops a five-realm framework by combining his cultivation experience, Black Robe Guard records, and his previous-life knowledge of Dugu Qiubai’s sword journey. He explicitly treats it as a provisional theory rather than a proven cultivation system 43 44.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Standard-issue longsword: His principal weapon 3 17.
• Black Robe Guard flexible armor: Part of his assessment equipment 3.
• Daggers, concealed weapons, and pebbles: Carried alongside assorted poisons, knockout smoke, and antidote pills 2 3.
• Ecstasy Powder: Claims that, used at the right moment, it can incapacitate even a Xiantian expert; this claim is not demonstrated in the supplied chapters 2.
• Lesser Rejuvenation Pill: Neutralizes Lin Ruhai’s poison but cannot restore the lifespan already lost to it 46.
• Blue-Maned Horse: Standard Black Robe Guard mount, listed under “Pet” on his panel 3.
• Pacification Commissioner’s seal: Obtained after Song Qian kills the hundred-household officer withholding it 50.

Relationships

• Song Qian — Younger sister, cultivation student, and frequent partner on assignments. He insists that she stay near him during danger and reprimands her for testing a hanging mechanism on herself 1 13 26.
• Song Yuanshan — Father and fellow hundred-household commander. Pressures him to marry but promises support if the Jiangzhe assignment becomes unbearable. Song Xuan later wonders whether his father has undisclosed influence 7 34 47.
• Song Linshi — Mother. Supports attempts to arrange his marriage and is related to Lin Ruhai 7 22 47.
• Lu Qingxue — Childhood sweetheart and fiancée; the Flower Shifting Palace’s young palace mistress. After her return, he reaffirms his promise to marry her in five years 31 32.
• Lu Qingshuang — Childhood friend and proposed marriage match favored by his parents. Song Qian believes she has feelings for him 5 7.
• Lu Xiaoliu — Childhood friend, colleague, and leisure companion. Song Xuan relies on his social skills to summon reinforcements during the Huai’an investigation 2 13 20.
• Zhao Dezhu — Superior, family friend, and institutional backer. Protects the siblings from an Enforcement Office transfer and supports their advancement 6 21 32.
• Shen Lian — Enforcement Office collaborator. Respects Song Xuan’s fighting strength and practical understanding of the world 14 17 19.
• Lin Daiyu — Younger cousin whom his parents initially hope to match with him. He secures her departure from the Jia Mansion and escorts her to her father 22 35 36.
• Lin Ruhai — Older relative and Lin Daiyu’s father. Song Xuan saves him from poisoning and receives warnings about Jiangzhe’s political dangers 46 47.
• Huang Rong — Initially encountered as a disguised thief. Their confrontation ends with her exchanging Spiral Nine Shadows for silver and both agreeing to settle their grievances 23 24.
• Lin Pingzhi — Young acquaintance during the sea voyage. Song Xuan studies the shortcomings of his family’s swordsmanship while considering how to acquire a superior sword art 43 44.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Black Robe Guard Assessment

• Chooses bandit suppression over hunting the unpredictable Flower Thief 2.
• Makes his first kill against a bandit abusing villagers, discovering how destructive his internal power makes even basic attacks 3.
• Reaches Langlang Mountain intending to eliminate its stronghold, but learns that the Enforcement Office has already cleared it 5 6.
• Passes the assessment and becomes a second-class Black Robe Guard 6.

Huai’an Flower Thief Investigation

• Takes over Sun Liu’s adultery case and uncovers allegations of sexual assault, extortion, and official concealment 10 13.
• Recruits Shen Lian’s Enforcement Office squad after finding a pattern across eight supposed adultery cases 14.
• Cuts through the Tian Household’s private guards, rejects Tian Yuan’s bribe, and orders the rear residence’s suspects arrested 17 18 19.
• The case earns imperial approval and contributes to his promotion to hundred-household commander 32.

Capital Investigations and Marriage Promise

• Acquires Sword Qi and Spiral Nine Shadows during his encounter with Huang Rong 23 24.
• Investigates Madam Shen’s apparent suicide after Song Qian identifies missing signs of a hanging victim’s struggle 26 27 28.
• Reunites with Lu Qingxue and renews their marriage promise 31.
• Receives orders to replace a mysteriously deceased commander in Jiangzhe Prefecture 32 33.

Journey to Jiangzhe

• Mobilizes fellow Black Robe Guards when the Jia Mansion refuses to release Lin Daiyu 35 36.
• Attends a village wedding, then returns to find the groom’s family murdered 38 39 40.
• Chooses direct vengeance over legal proceedings. He defeats Zhou Tailai, while Lin Daiyu kills the wounded prefect’s son 40 41.
• Considers obtaining Evil-Repelling Swordplay or Dugu Nine Swords, but acquires neither in the supplied chapters 44.

Jiangzhe Appointment and Office Confrontation

• Saves Lin Ruhai and learns that local officials, salt merchants, and martial-world powers are entangled 46 47.
• Examines Xu Chang’an’s remains and concludes that the drowning verdict concealed murder 48.
• Understands that his appointment also serves to reassert the authority of the Imperial Capital’s hereditary Black Robe Guard lineages 48.
• Confronts Fang Cheng’s office, orders the obstructive seal-holder killed, and claims the right to set its rules. Some officers withdraw from the dispute, but a banner captain still challenges him 49 50.

Notable Quotes

“Compared with those seasoned veterans, we’re just two fledglings fresh out of the nest. A few extra preparations to keep us alive certainly won’t hurt!” 2

“If you want to achieve true mastery on the martial path and become a great martial arts grandmaster, you ultimately have to find your own understanding.” 43

“I don’t know what rules you had here before, but from now on, I, Song Xuan, make the rules in this Thousand-Household Office!” 50