Li Dao

Biodata

Power Progression

Li Dao’s Physique measures his overall physical and mental development, not a conventional cultivation realm. An ordinary person’s average Physique is 1 2.

Background / History

Li Dao was an orphan in his previous life and experienced familial affection through his reincarnated family. The Li lineage originated as a military household granted a first-rank marquisate during Great Qian’s founding; successive generations preserved its standing through military service, leaving Li Dao a third-rank earldom to inherit 36 44.

As a child, he received strict instruction in physical training, calligraphy, and poetry, and dreamed of becoming a commander like his father. At seven, an elderly Daoist discovered that he had no meridian pathways and could never cultivate true qi. His fiancée and younger sister were taken away to cultivate, while his parents relaxed their expectations and allowed him a comfortable life. After both parents died unexpectedly, he became an increasingly indulgent wastrel 8 36.

At a palace banquet, drinking coincided with the awakening of his previous-life memories. Amid drunkenness and mental confusion, he sexually assaulted Princess Mingyue. She intervened to spare him the harshest execution, but the emperor had him transferred to the northern frontier’s Death Row Camp, where he was expected to die. His records were erased and his name replaced with prisoner number 9527 1.

Appearance

• Early imprisonment: Disheveled hair, abrasions, and a tattered white uniform marked “prisoner” on the chest and “death” on the back 1.
• Initially underestimated: Other prisoners regard him as a thin, small-framed “pretty boy,” despite his growing strength 3 6.
• After physique enhancement: Lean, powerful muscles, straight posture, sword-like brows, and star-bright eyes 29.
• Hair and clothing: At Jade Gate Town, he wears long black robes and an ink-black hairstyle partly secured with a hairband, with two locks beside his temples 29.
• Transformed skin: Fairer and healthy-looking beneath the shed dead skin; outwardly soft despite its toughness 17.
• Changed face: His former puffiness and poor complexion disappear so thoroughly that he believes old acquaintances would struggle to recognize him, although his underlying bone structure remains unchanged 29.

Personality

Li Dao is pragmatic about survival and legal identity. Although he believes he could escape the Death Row Camp, he refuses to become an unregistered fugitive: he wants freedom he can use openly and a clean identity with which to return to his family. He also bargains directly with Wei Yun, reducing the proposed ten assignments to three and demanding protection against deliberately suicidal orders 5 10.

His pursuit of strength is aggressive but not without self-awareness. He initially rejects killing fellow prisoners indiscriminately for attributes, fearing that doing so would make him a slave to power. After slaughtering the Falling Cloud prince’s guards, he deliberately rests to settle his emotions rather than allow the killing to consume him 2 17.

That restraint does not extend to Northern Barbarian combatants. He kills surrendered soldiers, treating continued slaughter as both a source of strength and retaliation against Great Qian’s longstanding enemies. His conduct reflects a severe hostility toward the Northern Barbarians, not a general refusal to kill the helpless 4 17.

He is protective of companions and civilians. He rescues wounded teammates, returns for the captured Wei Yun, shields Bi You’er during an ambush, and stays with Peach Spring Village’s survivors before giving them the means to defend themselves. Away from combat, he shows a teasing, affectionate side with Bi You’er, Jiu’er, and Yuanbao 15 26 31 41 43.

Abilities & Skills

Enemy-Killing Attribute-Drop System

A private system converts defeated enemies into attributes that Li Dao allocates to Physique 2.

• Killing an enemy yields one-tenth of that enemy’s total attributes 2.
• Physique improves strength, speed, constitution, spirit, recovery, reflexes, and mental faculties together 2 5.
• Points can be allocated during combat, allowing sudden increases in speed and striking power 8 20 27.
• Completing one hundred consecutive kills grants an additional five attribute points 27.
• A pending transformation blocks further allocation until he completes it; afterward, improvement remains one-for-one rather than becoming more expensive 17.
• It does not provide meridians or true qi. Cultivation manuals remain unusable to him 9 42.

Horizontal Tempering and Transformed Skin

Li Dao calls his alternative path horizontal tempering: strengthening the body itself rather than cultivating true qi 10.

• His first transformation gives his skin resistance to piercing and cutting, which continues improving with Physique 17.
• At Physique 22.70, the Black Iron Saber barely cuts his skin when used with ten times an ordinary person’s strength; using his full force drives it into muscle, which clamps around the blade 17.
• His skin withstands Lie Xin’s true-qi flames with only minor reddening across most exposed areas 20.
• Ordinary soldiers’ sabers cannot injure him during his assault on the Falling Cloud camp 26.
• His endurance lets him sustain mass combat without relying on a finite true-qi reserve 27.
• His defenses are not absolute: powerful attacks can wound him, though injuries heal rapidly 22 27.

Saber Techniques

Li Dao combines enhanced strength with the Gale Saber Technique, rather than relying solely on brute force 10.

• Memorizes its illustrated manual and reproduces the movements through mental rehearsal 10.
• Adapts the technique to his own Physique over a week 10.
• Uses enhanced analysis to identify patterns and openings in Lie Xin’s staff technique 20.
• Employs attacks called Nameless Slash in battles against Houtian, half-step Innate, and Xiantian opponents 19 20 27.
• At nearly one hundred Physique, he considers no opponent below Xiantian a threat in a direct clash; a Houtian cavalry commander falls to one slash 39.

Peerless Halberd Art and Astral Force

The Li family’s halberd technique demands both exceptional strength and precise technique. Li Dao reaches minor mastery by producing astral force 42.

• Astral force emerges from strength and technique, not true-qi cultivation 42.
• Produces an invisible cutting blade capable of gouging earth and marking a wall several meters away without direct weapon contact 42.
• Its power increases with physical strength; the manual describes its destructive power as greater than true qi 42.
• Reaches minor mastery in less than an hour, whereas his founding ancestor spent a lifetime approaching major mastery 42.
• Major mastery requires honing the art against enemies on the battlefield 42.

Treasure Blood and Animal Bonding

His second transformation changes his blood into Treasure Blood, which attracts animals and alters those that consume it 40 41.

• Enhances Yuanbao’s strength and intelligence, then reshapes her fur, claws, teeth, and overall appearance through further doses 40 41.
• Makes Yuanbao affectionate and obedient; Li Dao also discovers he can understand her squeaks 41.
• Temporarily lowers his Physique when produced 41.
• Yuanbao reaches her limit after five drops; the same limit is not established for other animals 50.
• Purchases two wolf cubs and two Saker Falcons for further testing, but their transformation outcomes are not shown in the supplied chapters 50.

Memory, Strategy, and Leadership

• Possesses photographic recall and increasingly powerful mental faculties, enabling rapid memorization of martial manuals 10 42.
• Memorizes the entire Pagoda Art of War in a little over ten minutes, while acknowledging that its unfamiliar concepts still require study 42.
• Understands the Tamu Tribe’s marriage alliance as an attempt to obtain grain for winter 22.
• Establishes leadership over the five condemned operatives through bargaining, strength, and control of difficult teammates 10 11.
• Knows how to ride, having been tested in riding, archery, and martial skills when inheriting his title, though he passed those examinations through bribery and connections 5.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Black Iron Saber — Originally lent by Wei Yun, then gifted after the arrow-convoy mission. Forged from centennial darksteel, it resembles a standard saber but weighs seven or eight times as much. Its identifying mark also helps Li Dao obtain assistance at Jade Gate Town 12 13 21 29.
• Dragon-Patterned Halberd — Li family heirloom forged from ten-thousand-year black iron. Approximately 3.2 meters long and at least two hundred jin, it is pitch-black with dragon patterns. Li Dao recovers it from the ancestral hall and later uses it to practice the Peerless Halberd Art 36 42.
• Li family secret manuals — The Peerless Halberd Art, Tyrant Tiger Mental Art, and Pagoda Art of War: respectively a martial technique, true-qi cultivation method, and military treatise containing Iron Pagoda troop training and formations 36 42.
• Li family genealogy — Retrieved from his father’s study before the estate’s destruction, preserving the family record alongside its heirlooms 36.
• Identity Plaque — Proof of his new household registration, obtained through Wei Yun and used to enter Jade Gate Town 28 29.
• Golden Iron Family token — Accepted from Tie Sanniang after declining her offer to become a retainer 33.

Relationships

• Princess Mingyue — The princess he assaulted at the palace banquet. Her intervention spared him execution; later, he resolves to apologize to her 1 23.
• Great Qian Emperor — Orders his removal to the Death Row Camp despite Mingyue’s intervention. Li Dao believes discovery of his former identity would place him in danger again 1 28.
• Wei Yun — Mighty Camp commander, mission sponsor, and benefactor. Li Dao negotiates freedom with him and later rescues him; Wei Yun obtains the group’s new identities and gives Li Dao the Black Iron Saber 10 21 26 28.
• Liu Neng / Squad Leader Liu — Early military supporter who saves Li Dao from a Houtian opponent, permits him to retain captured manuals, and helps conceal them from prison searches 7 9 26.
• Shen San — Thief and fellow condemned operative who accepts Li Dao’s leadership. Offers stolen gold and silver as travel money when they part, which Li Dao declines 11 28.
• Xu Hu / Little Giant — Strength-gifted teammate who agrees to follow Li Dao after their contest shatters a stone table. Li Dao rescues him from Jin Sheng 11 15.
• Little Madman — Agile, difficult-to-control teammate whom Li Dao subdues and later protects during the Falling Cloud prince mission 10 15.
• Old Ghost — Physician and poison specialist in the five-man team; departs with the other companions toward the Southern Mountains after their release 12 28.
• Jiu’er — Addresses him as “Young Master” and accompanies him from the ruined Anyuan estate. He settles her in Cloudrise City before enlisting 36 45.
• Tie Sanniang — Iron Family caravan patron whose concealed Innate cultivation he discovers. She asks him to keep her secret and offers him a retainer position, which he refuses 31 33.
• Bi You’er — Tie Sanniang’s maid; exchanges meals for his stories and develops a playful bond with him. He shields her from arrows during the convoy attack 31.
• Yuanbao — Female rat transformed by his Treasure Blood and adopted as a household pet. He understands her squeaks, and Jiu’er comes to accept her 41 42.
• Liu Xiuer — Leader among Peach Spring Village’s surviving women. Receives martial manuals and a combined-attack formation from Li Dao, then organizes the women’s training 43.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Survival in the Death Row Camp

• Kills a prisoner who attempts to take his daily food, using a wooden spike and his chain 1.
• Survives his first camp raid as the only returning member of twenty condemned prisoners, gains military recognition, and begins rapidly increasing his Physique 4 5.
• During a cavalry ambush, overcomes his initial disadvantage against a Houtian leader and obtains the Yellow Sun Art and Gale Saber Technique 7 8 9.

Three Missions for Freedom

• Secures a three-assignment agreement with Wei Yun and becomes leader of Shen San, Old Ghost, Xu Hu, and Little Madman 10 11.
• Turns a failed poisoned night raid into an open assault, rescues his injured teammates, and kills the Third Prince of Falling Cloud and his guards 13 15 17.
• Helps destroy an enemy arrow convoy and kills half-step Innate martial artist Lie Xin 19 20.
• Assists Embroidered Uniform Guard commanders Sun Zheng and Gao Liang in obstructing the Tamu eldest prince’s marriage mission. The prince’s retreat completes the assignment 22 23 26.

Rescue of Wei Yun and Release

• Returns to find Changgu Town attacked and Wei Yun captured, then pursues him alone 26.
• Cuts through the Falling Cloud camp, kills a Xiantian martial artist, and rescues Wei Yun 27 28.
• Receives a new registration after approximately a month. Keeps the name Li Dao but supplies unrelated background details to conceal his former identity 28.

Imperial Capital Homecoming

• Travels as an Iron Family caravan guard and protects Bi You’er and Tie Sanniang during an ambush 29 31 32.
• Learns that powerful nobles, particularly the Chancellor’s Residence, have been stripping the Anyuan household of its assets after his supposed execution 23.
• Recovers the family weapon, manuals, and genealogy, then leaves with Jiu’er as the Chancellor’s men destroy the estate 35 36.

Peach Spring Village

• Destroys the Northern Barbarian cavalry responsible for the village massacre and stays to protect its surviving women 38 39 40.
• Completes his blood transformation, adopts Yuanbao, and begins practicing his family’s halberd art 40 41 42.
• After ten days, leaves the women the Yellow Sun Art, Swift Wind Saber Technique, and Mandarin Duck Combined Attack Formation so they can defend themselves 43.

Return to Military Service

• Chooses to join the army after losing his inherited title and establishes a home for Jiu’er in Cloudrise City 44 45.
• Passes the recruitment strength test by lifting a five-hundred-jin stone weight with one hand, despite having no cultivation 48.
• Is assigned to Yellow Sand Town Camp through Qi Sheng’s arrangement with Zhang Ci. Before reporting, acquires wolf cubs and Saker Falcons to investigate further uses of Treasure Blood 50.

Notable Quotes

“Human traffickers all deserve to die.” 6

“Flesh and blood. What else could I be but human?” 27

Trivia

• He struggles with maps from both his previous life and his current world, making a guided caravan preferable to navigating alone 29.
• His deliberately altered version of White Snake ends with Fahai and White Snake living happily together in Leifeng Pagoda 31.
• After testing his blade-resistant skin, he briefly wonders how he would undergo surgery if he developed appendicitis 17.