Kelin Xiaoman

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Special Operations Squad

At fourteen, Xiaoman joins a squad of three mages and four warriors assigned to clear a three-hundred-li stretch along the outskirts of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, protect the military camp, and watch for Shadow Alliance spies. She introduces herself cheerfully as an early-stage Fourth-Level Water Mage. While establishing their temporary camp, she accompanies Shiheng to buy food, cookware, healing potions, and other supplies 8 9.

Ten days of fighting weaker magical beasts develops the squad’s teamwork and mutual trust. Xiaoman serves as its healer during encounters with Bloodthirsty War Boars and Man Snakes. Around the campfire, she declines to explain her family circumstances, revealing only that she wants to escape an arranged marriage 10 11 12.

During the Red-Blue Bee battle, she suppresses her fear and continuously heals Huohe, Xifaman, and Kelan Kai. Shiheng later shields her with his body and is seriously injured. After further training, she reaches the middle stage of the fourth level. Learning from the bee battle, she protects all three mages with Water Shields during the subsequent Wind Wolf campaign, allowing Shiheng greater freedom to fight 14 15 16.

Saving Shiheng

When a Swift Raptor attacks, Shiheng intercepts a potentially fatal tail strike aimed at Xiaoman. She exhausts her magic trying to heal him during the ensuing battle, but cannot keep pace with his injuries. After he pursues the beast into the mountain range’s middle reaches, she follows the battle trail alone and reaches him just in time to prevent him from falling over a cliff after his victory 18 20.

With Shiheng unconscious and night approaching, Xiaoman realizes that attempting the return journey would be fatal. She makes a rope from the Swift Raptor’s tendons, lowers them down the cliff, and excavates a concealed cave using Shiheng’s weapon. Despite exhaustion and injured hands, she also moves the carcass inside and conceals it with stones to prevent its bloody scent from attracting magical beasts 21.

Xiaoman repeatedly alternates meditation with healing through the night, refusing to rest until Shiheng’s external wounds improve. Over seven days, her continued treatment and the nutritious Swift Raptor meat help him recover. He then teaches her his newly developed Berserk Secret Method; remembering his sacrifice, she resolves to become someone capable of protecting others rather than only receiving protection 22 23.

After entering the warrior ranks, Xiaoman leaves the cave with Shiheng. Five Shadowfang Beasts ambush them, attracted by their remaining raptor meat. Although wounded during the fight, she uses Berserk Shadowless Slash to finish the remaining attackers, collects the five cores, and continues searching for their companions 24.

Departure and Reunion

Grand Duke Kelin summons Xiaoman before the military rewards are finalized. She receives special treatment and leaves camp early, without her destination being disclosed to the others 31.

Four years later, she travels from Feng Lai City in a carriage guarded by mercenaries. A Shadow Church force attacks the escort, and its Ninth-Rank leader drives the mercenaries away. Shiheng recognizes Xiaoman when her carriage is destroyed. She urges him to flee, unaware of his growth, before witnessing him annihilate the attackers and kill their leader 47 48.

In Yulan Calendar year 9966, Xiaoman explains that the Principality of Klan’s deteriorating war against the Shadow Alliance has forced her father to seek Feng Lai’s assistance. The kingdom has demanded that she marry its prince in exchange for troops, and her father has agreed under pressure. Shiheng rejects the bargain, promises to help her principality, and places her under his protection. They depart together on his Gale Horse, with their shared ride revealing growing romantic feelings 49 50.

Appearance

• Build: Petite and slender, initially appearing physically frail despite her resilience 22.
• Features: Fair skin, large bright eyes, long eyelashes, and dark hair 10 22 48 50.
• Clothing: Wears spotless white clothing at her reunion with Shiheng; an escort describes her white gown and angelic appearance 47 48.
• Berserk transformation: Her muscles swell, her face flushes crimson, her eyes gain a red glint, and she appears to grow half a head taller 24.

Personality

Xiaoman is lively and playful when first introduced, but her strongest personal wish is independence: she does not want her family to determine her marriage or bind her for life. Her teasing returns even after the distress of the Feng Lai negotiations, when she asks whether Shiheng’s concern means he likes her 8 12 49.

Her courage is expressed through persistence rather than an absence of fear. She continues healing during the bee swarm despite panic, follows Shiheng alone through dangerous territory, and forces herself to build shelter when nearly exhausted. Her determination to protect him becomes the emotional foundation of her berserk training 14 20 21 23.

Abilities & Skills

Water-Element Healing Magic

Xiaoman’s principal battlefield role is treating injured companions 10 11.

• Stabilizes wounds and eases severe pain, allowing frontline fighters to remain in combat 14.
• Can treat her own injuries, including the damage to her hands from excavating the cave 21.
• Repeated casting significantly improves Shiheng’s external wounds, but cannot quickly repair his deeper internal damage 22.
• Her fourth-level healing can only slow the deterioration caused by the Swift Raptor’s attacks; it cannot overcome wounds of that severity during ongoing combat 18.

Water Shield

A fourth-level defensive spell used to protect the squad’s mages 16.

• Casts a shield on herself and each Nalan sister during the Wind Wolf battle.
• Fourth-level magical beasts cannot quickly break through it, reducing the need for constant close protection 16.

Berserk Secret Method

Shiheng teaches Xiaoman a method that uses extreme emotion to stimulate the body and sharply increase strength and speed. Her breakthrough comes from her desire to protect someone important to her 23.

• Raises her combat strength from a mid-stage First-Level Warrior to approximately the early third level 24.
• Can be activated at will after she masters the method 24.
• Has a short effective duration: a roughly quarter-hour burst nearly exhausts her battle qi 24.
• Does not make her invulnerable; a Shadowfang Beast’s blow still seriously wounds her while transformed 24.

Berserk Shadowless Slash

A rapid sword technique performed during her first battle after mastering berserk 24.

• Turns her movement into a crimson blur and sweeps the blade across the remaining Shadowfang Beasts’ throats.
• Used to end the fight quickly before her berserk strength runs out 24.

Survival and Improvisation

• Constructs a weight-bearing rope from Swift Raptor tendons 21.
• Excavates a hidden cliffside cave with Shiheng’s weapon 21.
• Conceals the raptor’s corpse to reduce the risk of attracting nearby or flying magical beasts 21.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Swift Raptor horn short sword — Made by Shiheng after Xiaoman becomes a warrior; used against the Shadowfang Beasts and for Berserk Shadowless Slash 24.
• Swift Raptor tendon rope — Improvised to descend the cliff with the unconscious Shiheng 21.
• Swift Raptor meat — Supports her physical cultivation and Shiheng’s recovery; the remaining supply is carried out in the beast’s tough, waterproof hide 23 24.

Relationships

• Kelin Shiheng — Teammate, rescuer, and teacher of the Berserk Secret Method. Xiaoman saves his life in return and nurses him through his recovery. Their reunion develops into mutual romantic attraction, though Shiheng still describes her as a friend and no formal relationship is established 18 20 22 23 49 50.
• Grand Duke Kelin — Her father and a peak Ninth-Rank Warrior. He summons her away from camp and later agrees to Feng Lai’s marriage condition because of the principality’s military crisis 31 48 49.
• Huohe, Xifaman, and Kelan Kai — Warrior teammates whom she supports with healing, notably during the Red-Blue Bee battle 14.
• Nalan Ruoshui and Nalan Jingyu — Fellow squad mages; Xiaoman shields both sisters during the Wind Wolf campaign 11 16.
• Feng Lai Prince — The intended husband demanded by Feng Lai as the price of military support. Xiaoman is distressed by the arrangement; no marriage is documented 49.

Notable Quotes

“My only wish is not to have my family arrange my marriage, not to be bound for the rest of my life.” 12

“If you hadn't thrown yourself in front of me without a thought for anything else, I would have been the one struck by that velociraptor's deadly tail sweep. I would already be dead. I'm the one who should be thanking you.” 22

“You care so much about me. Do you like me? We're not even in a relationship.” 49