Xiao Yan

Biodata

Power Progression

Da Dou Shi is also rendered as “Great Dou Master” or “Great Dou Shi” in the supplied chapters.

Background / History

Xiao Yan is the son of Xiao Clan leader Xiao Zhan and Ling Yao, and has two older brothers. His grandfather, Xiao Lin, was a Dou Wang whose fatal injuries marked the clan’s decline and its growing distance from the Nalan Family. Xiao Lin’s friendship with Nalan Jie led to Xiao Yan’s childhood engagement to Nalan Yanran 6 7.

Ling Yao died when Xiao Yan was four. Xiao Zhan told him that she had died of illness, but did not explain the circumstances in detail. Because entry to the Xiao Clan’s Ancestral Grounds required Dou Zhe strength, Xiao Yan’s earliest motivation for cultivation was to earn the right to visit her grave. He continued to honor her with incense each year 1.

After becoming a Dou Zhe at eleven, Xiao Yan spent three years largely secluded within the clan estate. Most of his training took place in the Qi Refining Room, with some time spent in the Ancestral Grounds. His talent strengthened Xiao Zhan’s authority and made the rival Jia Lie and Ao Ba families fear the Xiao Clan’s eventual rise 1 2 8.

Before leaving Wutan City, Xiao Yan encountered a remnant soul of Xiao Xuan through a reaction between the clan’s Ancient Jade and its ancestral tomb. Xiao Xuan awakened his Clan Mark and explained that gathering Heavenly Flames could restore its power. This gave Xiao Yan a concrete path toward rebuilding the clan’s strength 18.

Appearance

• Clothing: Introduced wearing black 1.
• Face: Described as having delicate features during his duel with Nalan Yanran 8.
• Habitual accessory: Often holds a dry stalk or blade of grass between his lips 1 16.
• Forehead markings: His Clan Mark appears when activated and fades as his Dou Qi settles. After acquiring his Heavenly Flame, it consists of a white ring and a blood-red outer ring 18 43.
• Back markings: Mastered Eagle Wings rest on his back like tattoos until supplied with Dou Qi 29.

Personality

Xiao Yan is confident in his talent but skeptical of admiration based solely on strength. He recognizes that many clan members respect his potential rather than his person, while regarding Xiao Xun’er as an exception. With people close to him, he is playful and teasing, though he often fails to understand romantic signals 1 7 8 29.

His approach to enemies is retaliatory rather than indiscriminately hostile: he states that he leaves others alone if they leave him alone. Once attacked, however, he is willing to kill and to use deception against those responsible. His staged funeral turns an assassination attempt into an opportunity to remove threats before his departure 4 9 13.

He distinguishes enemies from companions. He honors his agreement to divide the cave treasure with Xiao Yi Xian, protects her during the mercenary confrontation, and refuses to condemn her after learning that her body produced the deadly poisonous mist 24 27 47.

Despite his confidence, Xiao Yan knows when he is outmatched. He avoids the Dou Huang battle, retreats from the Heavenly Flame’s twelve beasts, and prepares bait and medicine before attempting to capture the flame. When that attempt nearly kills him, he blames his own inadequate preparation 31 39 41 42.

Abilities & Skills

Flame Manipulation Art

An Earth Tier Mid Grade cultivation method lent to him by Xiao Xun’er as a coming-of-age gift 16 17.

• Improves flame control and permits the fusion of flames into new ones 17.
• Replacing his previous method increases his Dou Qi capacity more than tenfold 17.
• Its soul imprint lets him master it overnight; the imprint disappears afterward, leaving a less valuable handwritten copy 17.
• Xun’er selects it as the highest grade he can safely practice at that time. A stronger method could obstruct cultivation or cause cultivation deviation 17.

Xiao Clan Mark

A bloodline-derived Divine Pattern awakened by Xiao Xuan. The exhausted Xiao Clan bloodline can no longer directly accelerate cultivation, but its mark can use powerful flames to enhance combat strength 18.

• Initially raises his strength by one or two stars; its first demonstrated boost takes him from Three-Star to Five-Star Da Dou Shi 18 36.
• Senses heat, helping him choose a passage within the Amethyst Winged Lion King’s cave 36.
• Suppresses beast flames and extinguishes Heavenly Flame attacks by consuming additional Dou Qi 36 39.
• Contains an internal space that can imprison a Heavenly Flame, though Xiao Yan must still win the flame’s acceptance himself 43.
• Gains another ring after he subdues the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame. Xiao Xuan identifies completion of all ten lines as the route to the clan’s resurgence 18 43.

Hourglass Divine Pattern

A separate hourglass-shaped Divine Pattern manifests during Xiao Yan’s near-fatal struggle to absorb the Heavenly Flame 43.

• Restores his condition and apparently reactivates medicinal effects that had already expired 43.
• Xiao Yan suspects that its power rewinds his body to an earlier state rather than merely healing it 43.
• He associates it with a vision of his mother and wonders whether he inherited it from her; its origin remains unconfirmed 43.
• Becomes completely dim afterward, leaving him unable to use it again anytime soon 43.

Myriad Beast Spirit Flame

The twenty-second-ranked Heavenly Flame, subdued within his Divine Pattern space after taking the form of a frightened blood-red puppy 15 43.

• Produces blood-red fire that Xiao Yan can summon at will 43.
• Powers the second layer of his Clan Mark, enabling his temporary Two-Star Dou Ling state 43.
• Burns away the poisonous mist surrounding Xiao Yi Xian and protects him from approaching toxins 46 47.
• Neutralizes Fallen Emperor Gorge’s Astral Gales by heating and distorting the air 44.
• Allows him to summon up to three Flame Beasts, each roughly equivalent to a One- or Two-Star Da Dou Shi 43.

Great Flame Palm

A Profound Tier Low Grade fire technique, initially the only Dou Technique Xiao Yan has mastered 4 25.

• Incinerates attackers directly struck and injures others with its spreading shock wave 4.
• At Da Dou Shi level, forms a tangible flaming palm five or six meters long 25.
• Kills Mu She during the destruction of the Wolf Head Mercenary Group 29.

Mad Lion’s Roar

A rare Xuan Tier High Grade sonic Dou Technique recovered among the cave treasures 26 28.

• Releases wide-area sound waves capable of incapacitating or killing groups of enemies 28.
• Causes devastating casualties among the Wolf Head Mercenary Group and kills its deputy leaders 29.
• Shatters the Demon Fusion Flower’s main root at close range, allowing Xiao Yan to obtain its magic core 30.
• Can be restrained to reduce collateral harm. Before using it beside friendly mercenaries, he instructs them to seal their ears with Dou Qi 45.

Eagle Wings

A High Xuan Tier Flying Dou Technique found in the hidden cave 24.

• Grants flight before the Dou Wang realm normally permits Dou Qi wings 24.
• Slows his fall into the abyss, allowing him to land safely 37.
• Offers less maneuverability than a grounded movement technique because he cannot brace himself in midair 41.
• Becomes coated in blood-red flames after his Heavenly Flame acquisition, deterring low-tier flying magical beasts 44.

Explosive Step

A Black Tier Intermediate Level movement technique given to him by Yun Zhi 41.

• Channels Dou Qi into his feet and releases it against the ground for explosive acceleration 41.
• Emphasizes bursts of speed over agility; each step produces a small explosion 41.
• Helps him scatter bait inside the Heavenly Flame’s territory and later cross the barricades around the Myriad Medicine Pavilion 41 46.

Medicine and Alchemy Studies

Xiao Yan studies pharmacology to establish a foundation for becoming an alchemist, rather than initially pursuing medicine as a vocation 24.

• Learns medicinal ingredients and basic remedies from Xiao Yi Xian, preparing simple injury medicines within three days 26.
• Possesses both fire and wood attributes, but initially lacks an alchemy teacher 32.
• Acquires an alchemy book containing detailed formula annotations on heat control, purification, fusion, and other refining steps. Its record of repeated failures changes his view of the profession 40.
• Reaches Black Rock City intending to take the First-Rank Alchemist examination; no successful certification is documented in the supplied chapters 49.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Xiao Clan’s Ancient Jade — Entrusted to him by Xiao Zhan before departure; reacts with the ancestral tomb and leads him to Xiao Xuan’s remnant soul 17 18.
• Dou Qi Jade Token — Allows him to enter and leave the Ancestral Grounds 1.
• Heavenly Flames Coordinate Map — A sheepskin scroll obtained from Oba Pa; its soul imprints guide his search in the Magical Beast Mountain Range 15 37 39.
• Storage Rings — Takes Mu Li’s and Mu She’s rings after their deaths, gaining money, healing pills, and technique manuals 26 29.
• Medicinal-herb compendium — An illustrated reference treasured by Xiao Yi Xian and given to him during his medical studies 26.
• Purple spirit crystals — Takes two head-sized chunks from the lion king’s cave and gives one to Yun Zhi 37.
• Purple liquid — Collects three jade bottles from a sealed Purple Orb, later using the liquid as bait for the Heavenly Flame 37 41.
• Ice Heart Pill and Qi-Replenishing Pills — Uses the fourth-grade Ice Heart Pill and replenishing medicine during flame absorption; their protection proves insufficient before the hourglass pattern intervenes 42 43.
• Misty Cloud Sect recommendation — Retains an invitation written by Grand Elder Yun Leng that would let him bypass the sect’s entrance assessment; he postpones joining 9.

Relationships

• Xiao Zhan — Father and clan leader. Defends him against the elders’ objections, supports his departure, and entrusts him with the Ancient Jade 6 17.
• Ling Yao — Deceased mother. Visiting her grave first motivates his cultivation; the hourglass pattern later raises unanswered questions about her ancestry 1 43.
• Xiao Lin — Deceased grandfather. His friendship with Nalan Jie establishes Xiao Yan’s arranged engagement 7.
• His two older brothers — Operate a mercenary company in the desert. Xiao Yan initially plans to visit them in the Tagor Desert 6 17.
• Xiao Xun’er — His closest companion in the clan. He recognizes that his affection may be more than brotherly, promises to catch up to her, and receives the Flame Manipulation Art before their separation 1 16 17.
• Nalan Yanran — Arranged fiancée and the girl who intervenes during his assassination attempt. After he defeats her without seriously hurting her, she abandons her attempt to end the engagement 3 7 8 11.
• Xiao Yi Xian — Treasure-hunting partner, medical teacher, and close companion. He protects her from the Wolf Head Mercenary Group and rescues her after her poisonous mist overwhelms the pavilion 24 26 29 47.
• Yun Zhi — Injured Dou Huang whom he rescues and treats. He helps obtain her purple spirit crystal; she gives him Explosive Step and offers an introduction to an alchemist friend 31 32 33 37 41.
• Xiao Xuan — Ancestral remnant soul who awakens his Clan Mark and directs him toward conquering Heavenly Flames 18.
• Xiao Mei — Cousin who seeks his praise and admires him; he responds politely but does not share the closeness he has with Xun’er 1.
• Jia Lie Bi — Rival patriarch responsible for the assassination plot. Xiao Yan’s staged funeral traps his family’s strongest fighters 3 9 13 14.
• Mu Li and Mu She — Enemies who pursue the cave treasures. Xiao Yan kills both, destroying the Wolf Head Mercenary Group 26 28 29.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Securing the Xiao Clan’s Position

• Survives an ambush by seventeen Dou Zhe while shopping for Xun’er’s birthday gift, revealing that the attackers have underestimated his cultivation 3 4.
• Defeats Nalan Yanran by catching her sword between two fingers and stopping a feigned attack with a tap to her forehead 8.
• Proposes spreading rumors that the duel left him fatally injured, then uses his funeral to gather the rival families’ leaders inside a prepared trap 9 10 12.
• Emerges alive from the coffin as the clan’s fighters, hired mercenaries, and Shadow Tower assassins expose the ambush. The purge removes the Jia Lie Family’s strongest fighters; the Ao Ba Family subsequently submits 13 14 16.

Qingshan Town and the Cave Treasures

• Joins Xiao Yi Xian’s herb-gathering expedition while traveling toward the Heavenly Flame’s mapped location 19.
• Agrees to explore a hidden cave with her and divide its treasure, gaining Eagle Wings while giving her the Seven-Colored Poison Scripture 21 24.
• Kills Mu Li after the mercenaries attempt to seize the treasure, then returns to town to study medicine 25 26.
• Destroys the Wolf Head Mercenary Group when Mu She surrounds the pavilion and demands their surrender 27 28 29.

Conquering the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame

• Enters the mountains to find a poison-type magic core for Xiao Yi Xian, rescues Yun Zhi, and joins her effort to obtain purple spirit crystal 29 31 33.
• Falls into the abyss to let Yun Zhi escape the lion king, surviving through Eagle Wings 37.
• Retreats from twelve flame beasts, then uses Rock-Gnawing Mice and purple liquid to lure the Heavenly Flame into a cave 39 41.
• Nearly dies during absorption before the hourglass pattern restores his condition. Winning the flame’s acceptance grants him his second Clan Mark ring and Eight-Star Da Dou Shi cultivation 42 43.

Xiao Yi Xian’s Rescue and Alchemy Ambitions

• Returns to Qingshan Town after helping the Blood Battle Mercenary Group defeat a wolf pack, declining its rewards 45 46.
• Rescues Xiao Yi Xian from the poisonous pavilion and carries her to a secluded mountain valley, where she raises the subject of the Woeful Poison Body 46 47.
• Plans to seek Gu He as an alchemy teacher, but his next documented destination is Black Rock City’s Alchemist Guild. Guards deny him entry because he has neither a badge nor a letter of introduction 44 49.

Notable Quotes

“Xun’er, you don’t have to hold yourself back so much for my sake. Believe this: no matter how outstanding you become, your Brother Xiao Yan will catch up with you.” 1

“How powerful a faction is depends on how powerful its strongest member is!” 6

“Don’t worry. I’m no great saint, but I’m not so far gone that I’d casually turn on a companion. I said we’d split it evenly, and that’s what we’ll do.” 24