Tian Hao

Biodata

Power Progression

Tian Hao develops external martial arts before establishing outside-in internal cultivation. His external inner force is distinct from the internal energy he initially struggles to cultivate 4 6 49.

Background / History

Tian Hao transmigrated from Earth Village into the martial world, retaining memories of his previous life. Although he brought the Heaven-Defying Mirror with him, he spent more than a decade unable to discover any function beyond displaying his own attributes 2.

At four, he survived a bandit attack after his mother hid him under a bed. Both parents were killed, his younger sister went missing, and the bandits eventually found and sold him into slavery at a forge. An escape attempt at twelve failed; afterward, he was publicly whipped every month to intimidate the other slaves 36.

At fifteen, he escaped Guan Family Fort by poisoning its inhabitants and provoking their existing internal conflicts. He had not originally intended to annihilate the fort, but the resulting infighting left nearly everyone dead or mortally wounded. He finished the survivors with the fort’s own crossbows and concealed its accumulated treasure in a cesspit 18.

He then sought protection and martial instruction at Mount Hua. Yue Buqun and Ning Zhongze investigated his account and confirmed it. His poor aptitude initially restricted him to slow progress in external cultivation, despite years of intensive training 4 7 11.

Appearance

• Large, powerful build: Tall and broad-backed, described as having a tiger’s back and a bear’s waist 5.
• Extensive lash scars: His back bears countless overlapping scars from his enslavement 7 11.
• Loose hair: He dislikes tying up his hair, prompting Ru Zhigang to give him a jade pendant rather than a coming-of-age cap 17.
• Increasingly muscular physique: Demon Ape Skill enlarges his arms, shoulders, chest, and abdomen; by minor achievement, his arms rival Yue Lingshan’s thighs in thickness 49.
• Heavy armored silhouette: His completed black iron armor weighs three hundred jin and substantially slows his movement 48 49.

Personality

Tian Hao is intensely disciplined and willing to endure painful training. He accepts twice-daily whipping, trains through the night, and later limits himself to four hours of deep sleep to make room for his martial arts. He treats survival as more important than elegant movement or conventional martial prestige 8 13 24 48.

He is blunt, provocative, and unwilling to grant women special treatment because of beauty or status. His treatment of Yue Lingshan includes insults, repeated knockouts, and coercive training. He frames this conduct as equality and preparation for the dangers of the martial world, though it repeatedly causes conflict with fellow disciples 2 9 10 21 25.

He repays both favors and grudges. His gratitude toward Lao Denuo leads him to seek the spy’s pardon rather than judge him solely by his original-story role. Conversely, insults about his enslavement provoke severe retaliation. Beneath his abrasive manner, he is determined to protect Mount Hua and reshape the world that destroyed his childhood 6 7 19 30 36.

Abilities & Skills

Heaven-Defying Mirror

A supernatural aid visible only to Tian Hao, with thirty-six gemstones corresponding to attribute-stacking slots 2 19.

• Displays innate essence, qi, spirit, and destiny 2.
• Copies compatible subjects’ attributes through sustained skin contact; Yue Lingshan’s first download takes an hour 2.
• Known compatible subjects include Yue Lingshan, Ning Zhongze, and Dongfang Bai. Tian Hao associates compatibility with women possessing tragic destinies and negative fate values 2 6 34 44.
• Increased spirit improves memory, comprehension, and control over martial force. After the first download, he can memorize manuals accurately after several readings 4 24.
• Does not directly supply a mastered technique: inadequate instruction still leaves him misunderstanding Embrace Origin Force until Li Buli corrects him 28 29.

His display after adding Ning Zhongze’s attributes reads 19:

Embrace Origin Force

His primary external art, combining a boxing routine with force that scours and strengthens the muscles, bones, skin, and membranes 4.

• Supplies the gentle-training component of his three complementary external arts 4.
• Minor mastery permits instantaneous force condensation; major mastery allows force to permeate the body and be released through different body parts 8.
• Fully mastered strikes produce explosive reports without relying solely on raw strength or speed 29.
• Supports the outside-in route to internal cultivation, whose energy can fuse with innate qi 6 49.
• Epiphany practice severely drains him. Yue Buqun warns him against repeating it without sufficient internal power 28.

Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt

A body-hardening art focused chiefly on the defensive strength of the skin and membranes 13 46.

• Uses the stationary Giant Crab Stance and moving Horizontal Crab Nine Forms 13.
• Progressively requires stronger training impacts, advancing from leather whips to wooden rods and then iron rods 9.
• Complements Embrace Origin Force by repeatedly tempering its inner force while resisting blows 8.
• Tian Hao develops a hot-and-cold variation using steam exposure and cold-water immersion with A San Divine Oil 21.
• Provides only modest increases in strength compared with its defensive benefits 46.

Eagle Claw Stele-Smashing Hand

An external grappling and force-redirection art based on turning an opponent’s strength against them 4 5.

• Allows wrist captures followed by repeated throws or ground slams, used against Linghu Chong and Tong Baixiong 14 50.
• Improves forging efficiency by redirecting force through hammer blows 6.
• At perfection, its principles can be incorporated into other arts rather than remaining confined to its original moves 45.
• Combined with Embrace Origin Force boxing, disrupts Wu Buyi’s footing and prevents him from effectively gathering his full strength 45 46.

Martial Sage Dragging Saber Slash

A powerful external saber technique recovered from Guan Xiong’s hidden manual, which Tian Hao adapts to his greatsword and forging practice 19.

• Uses force-channeling to produce sudden, explosive attacks 25.
• At major mastery, triples his explosive striking speed 38.
• Its supposed connection to Guan Yu is a Guan Family Fort tradition, not verified history 19.
• Tian Hao lacks the associated Azure Dragon Force 19.

Demon Ape Arts

Tian Hao obtains Demon Ape Skill and Demon Ape Through-Arm Fist from the Desert North Duo 40 48.

• Demon Ape Skill chiefly works through the three hand yang channels, influencing the arms and shoulders 40.
• The internal and external arts complement one another 40.
• His outside-in energy and medicinal meals enable rapid progress in Demon Ape Skill, enlarging his upper-body muscles and bones 49.
• The Duo’s accelerated cultivation involves cannibalism; Tian Hao’s documented training instead uses Eight-Treasure Precious Soup 40 49.

Self-Hypnosis and Visualization

Tian Hao adapts self-hypnosis principles from his previous life, disguising their origin as knowledge recovered from a damaged Daoist book 13 19.

• Ning Zhongze identifies similarities to traditional visualization methods 19.
• Tian Hao, Yue Buqun, and Ning Zhongze refine it over a month into a method for reaching Embrace Origin Guarding the One 31.
• He considers developing it further into spiritual cultivation, drawing inspiration from Star River Emperor 25.
• Martial Will, Sword Intent, and Saber Intent are discussed as possible visualization-related phenomena; Tian Hao is not shown acquiring them 19.

Blacksmithing and Martial Innovation

An inherited blacksmithing craft combines with his previous-life physics and chemistry knowledge to support Mount Hua’s weapon production 1 43.

• Constructs a furnace using coal, heated air, and stored oxygen to heat meteoric iron sufficiently for black iron forging 44.
• Creates a knockoff Wild Wind Hammer Technique from Eagle Claw force-redirection, momentum, and Embrace Origin inner force 44 45.
• The hammer technique reaches three times its initial force by the thirty-sixth blow; diminishing conversion efficiency prevents further accumulation 45.
• Uses Blacksmithing Sword Technique and hammer-derived rebound accumulation in battle against Tong Baixiong 50.
• Completes forty black iron longswords for Mount Hua 48.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Steel staff — Thirty-six jin; used to defeat Lu Dayou before Tian Hao regularly fights with a greatsword 6 7.
• Meteoric Iron Greatsword — His early heavy sword has a three-foot, palm-wide blade and a one-foot hilt, weighing over thirty jin 10 24.
• Black Iron Greatsword — His reforged weapon, capable of damaging Tong Baixiong’s saber and cutting through ordinary Demon Cult attackers 49 50.
• Meteoric iron chainmail — An earlier suit covering his torso, limbs, and head 24.
• Black iron armor — Three-hundred-jin chainmail and fish-scale armor completed by Wu Buyi. Expandable fittings accommodate further muscle growth; a special treatment changes its surface to inconspicuous dull gray 48 49.
• Jade pendant — Ru Zhigang’s coming-of-age gift, engraved with “rugged” on the front and “master” on the back 17.
• A San Divine Oil — Applied during Iron Shirt practice and added to cold-water training baths 8 21.
• Eight-Treasure Precious Soup — Medicinal nourishment used to sustain his demanding training; an early preparation contains century-old notoginseng won from Yue Lingshan 10 11 49.

Relationships

• Yue Buqun — Martial master and protector. Investigates Tian Hao’s past, monitors his training, helps him survive an epiphany, and supports his innovations 7 11 28 31.
• Ning Zhongze — Master’s wife and cultivation mentor. Helps obtain suitable external arts, regulates his Acquired Qi, and assists in refining self-hypnosis; her attributes become his second confirmed stack 4 19 31.
• Yue Lingshan — Senior martial sister, first attribute donor, and unwilling training partner. Their relationship is marked by teasing, challenges, brutal sparring, and Tian Hao’s efforts to improve her cultivation 2 10 21 25.
• Lao Denuo — Second senior brother and close training companion. Despite knowing he is a Mount Song spy, Tian Hao secures his pardon and offers him a choice of allegiances; Lao Denuo chooses Mount Hua 8 30 31.
• Ru Zhigang — Scholarly teacher and collaborator who regards Tian Hao as a son and heir to his teachings. Gives him his courtesy name and literary title 17.
• Linghu Chong — Antagonistic eldest senior brother. Tian Hao distrusts his judgment and commitment to Mount Hua; their disputes escalate into combat and conflicting accounts of the Desert North Duo incident 4 14 17 41 42.
• Lu Dayou — Hostile fellow disciple. Provokes Tian Hao by insulting his enslavement, suffers a severe beating, and later investigates Guan Family Fort on Linghu Chong’s behalf 6 7 47.
• Li Buli — Martial uncle whose explanation of mental focus resolves Tian Hao’s cultivation obstacle. Tian Hao openly credits and respects him 28 29.
• Wu Buyi — Martial uncle, sparring partner, and armor craftsman who helps develop Tian Hao’s equipment and combat experience 45 46 48 49.
• Dongfang Bai — Powerful acquaintance whom he calls “Auntie Dongfang.” Their nail-art encounter enables another attribute download; she later intervenes with a needle to save Tong Baixiong from him 34 36 44 50.
• Yang Jian and his sister — Children rescued after the Desert North Duo murders their family. Tian Hao considers recommending the boy to Yue Buqun rather than taking a disciple himself 39 41.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Mount Hua’s Revival

• Collaborates with Ru Zhigang on the Dictionary and phonetic-spelling project. He recognizes that public credit could attract hostility from powerful scholarly clans and accepts Ru Zhigang’s protective role 17.
• Supplies the location and background of Guan Family Fort’s hidden fortune. Its recovery provides funds for Mount Hua Academy and martial-training resources 18 23.
• Becomes central to the sect’s black iron weapon program, producing forty longswords while developing his own heavy armor 7 44 48.

Recruiting Lao Denuo

• Persuades Yue Buqun to spare Lao Denuo because of the genuine help he provided during Tian Hao’s early cultivation 30 31.
• Proposes using Lao Denuo’s spy identity to feed false intelligence to Zuo Lengchan and buy Mount Hua time to develop 31.
• Allows Lao Denuo to choose freely between returning to Mount Song and remaining at Mount Hua 31.

The Desert North Duo

• Investigates the powerful men connected to Linghu Chong after one attacks him at Fleeting Years 34 37.
• Participates in their capture alongside Zhao Bulu, Lao Denuo, and local constables; the investigation exposes their cannibalism and saves two surviving children 38 39.
• Obtains their martial manuals, while Linghu Chong’s insistence that they were framed deepens the conflict within Mount Hua 39 40 41.

Guan Family Pursuit and the Demon Cult Attack

• Surviving Guan family members seek Tian Hao as a lead to the vanished treasure, while Linghu Chong and Lu Dayou seek grounds to expel him 47.
• Enters the Demon Cult battle wearing black iron armor and wielding his reforged greatsword, overcoming ordinary attackers despite repeated hits 49 50.
• Nearly subdues Tong Baixiong through wrist grappling and repeated slams, but Dongfang Bai’s needle numbs his hand and permits Tong’s escape 50.
• Forces his way to Yue Buqun, Ning Zhongze, and their companion, shielding them from arrows with his armor. When asked his name, he claims to be Linghu Chong 50.

Notable Quotes

“This world is rotten, and I don't like it at all. One day, I'll shape it into what I want it to be.” 36

“You showed me kindness, and I don't want to kill you. I've already pleaded with Master on your behalf, and he agreed to spare you. The road you take from now on is entirely your choice.” 31