Yu Xiaogang

Biodata

Background

Yu Xiaogang spends twenty years studying Martial Soul theory, seeking recognition that his limited cultivation cannot secure. Despite presenting himself as an unrivaled researcher, he is widely ridiculed, and even his title of “Grandmaster” is often used mockingly. His friendship with Nuoding Academy’s dean allows him to remain at the academy 6 23 29 32.

He sees Tang San’s unusual combination of Blue Silver Grass and innate full Soul Power as an opportunity to reverse his fortunes. By identifying Tang San’s hidden second Martial Soul, he wins the boy’s trust and becomes his teacher. His private ambition is to gain prestige through the future accomplishments of a powerful disciple 6 7 28.

Appearance

• Build: Thin and gaunt, with a sallow complexion and a dispirited expression at his introduction 6.
• Clothing: Usually wears gray or grayish-white robes 6 29 46.
• Hair: Graying; becomes disheveled during his public humiliation at Nuoding Academy 29 46.

Personality

Yu Xiaogang’s pride centers on his reputation as a theorist. He uses the “Grandmaster” identity to compensate for his weak Martial Soul and stalled cultivation, reacting strongly when either is exposed. He is particularly afraid of losing Tang San’s respect, since his hopes of recognition depend on the disciple’s success 7 8 18 27.

His concern for status repeatedly overrides honesty. After losing his wager with Yao Xuan, he denies that a binding agreement ever existed, dismisses opposing witnesses as biased, and recruits Tang San to support his account. When confronted with counterexamples to his theories, he repeatedly retreats to the claim that he studies general principles rather than exceptions 23 25 27.

His defiance gives way when his life is threatened. He eventually makes the demanded public confession, but attacks Yao Xuan from behind as soon as the restraining pressure disappears. Five years later, the same encounter still haunts him almost nightly, and seeing Yao Xuan again leaves him trembling and unable to flee 30 46.

Abilities & Skills

Luo Sanpao

Luo Sanpao is Yu Xiaogang’s mutated Martial Soul. It manifests separately from him and attacks by releasing powerful farts 15 16.

• Earth-Shattering Luo Sanpao: An offensive Soul Skill invoked with the incantation “Fart like thunder.” Yu Xiaogang uses it in his attempted surprise attack on Yao Xuan 30.
• Limited consecutive attacks: After fighting Nether Wolves, Luo Sanpao has only two attacks remaining and needs time to replenish itself 16.
• Limited effectiveness: Those remaining attacks fail to injure a Mandala Snake 16.
• Linked injuries: When the snake bites Luo Sanpao, the Martial Soul returns to Yu Xiaogang as purple light, and venom spreads into his body 16.
• Supplies: Yu Xiaogang purchases twenty jin of white radishes before his first documented hunting trip with Tang San 15.

Martial Soul Research

Yu Xiaogang calls his body of research the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul. His deduction of Tang San’s Twin Martial Souls demonstrates an ability to draw useful conclusions from a Martial Soul certificate, but several broader claims become targets of Yao Xuan’s public challenge 6 7 24 25 27.

Teaching and Training

• Foundational instruction: Teaches Tang San Soul Power control, Martial Soul control, and information about Soul Beasts before hunting for a ring 14 15.
• Skill adaptation: Suggests using Blue Silver Pole Vault to improve jumping and treating its tough grass pole as a weapon 18.
• Combat practice: Later orders daily running and matches at Suotuo City’s Great Soul Arena, arguing that actual combat is the best teacher 49.
• Cultivation ceiling: Remains at rank 29 and has not broken through to Soul Elder in the documented encounters 23 27 28.

Relationships

• Tang San — Disciple. Initially respects Yu Xiaogang’s deduction of his Twin Martial Souls and defends him publicly, even giving false testimony about the wager. Privately, his respect deteriorates; five years later, he regards the apprenticeship as a bad bargain and considers replacing him with Yao Xuan 7 23 29 47.
• Yao Xuan — Principal enemy and later coercive superior. Yu Xiaogang initially recognizes him as a fellow Nuoding teacher because of altered memories. Yao Xuan engineers his humiliation, later becomes Shrek’s dean, and controls him through implanted Power of Destruction 7 13 24 47 49.
• Gu Yuena — Opponent in both the teaching wager and the public theory dispute. Yu Xiaogang’s demand that she and Yao Xuan kowtow to him enrages her; she later supplies the simulated Soul Rings used against his absorption-limit theory 8 25.
• Xiao Wu — Tang San’s opponent in the first wager. Yu Xiaogang assumes she cannot become a Soul Master within six months, only to discover that she is a rank-fourteen battle Soul Master with a hundred-year ring 8 19.
• Nuoding Academy’s dean — Friend and former benefactor. Gives Yu Xiaogang a place at the academy, but privately welcomes his decision to leave after the scandal 23 32.
• Flender — Described by Yu Xiaogang as his “good brother.” Yu Xiaogang comes to Shrek Academy seeking refuge with him, unaware that Yao Xuan has become its dean 47.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Taking Tang San as a Disciple

• Intervenes at Nuoding Academy’s gate after the guard accuses Tang San and Old Jack of using a forged certificate 6.
• Examines the certificate, identifies the significance of innate full Soul Power paired with Blue Silver Grass, and privately deduces Twin Martial Souls 6.
• Secures Tang San’s formal apprenticeship after explaining his reasoning. Yao Xuan then confronts the pair and attacks Yu Xiaogang’s credibility 7.

The First Six-Month Wager

• Yu Xiaogang accepts because he expects Tang San’s innate full Soul Power to guarantee an advantage over Xiao Wu 8.
• That night, Yao Xuan invades his consciousness and changes an erotic dream involving Liu Erlong into a nightmare featuring Qian Xunji. The imagined assault frightens Yu Xiaogang into wetting his bed 13.
• The recording of the incident becomes public, earning him the nickname “Big Wet One.” The castration depicted in the nightmare is not established as a real physical injury 13 14.

The Failed Mandala Snake Hunt

• A month later, Yu Xiaogang takes Tang San to the Soul Hunting Forest to obtain his first ring 14 15.
• Luo Sanpao fails to stop a Mandala Snake, and Yu Xiaogang collapses from venom after his Martial Soul is bitten 16.
• Tang San defeats the snake, but Yao Xuan renders both men unconscious before the intended absorption and substitutes a Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo ring 16 17.
• Tang San expels Yu Xiaogang’s poison and cares for him through three days of unconsciousness. On awakening, Yu Xiaogang attributes the unexpected ring to venom-induced confusion rather than outside interference 17.
• He encourages Tang San to develop the resulting Blue Silver Pole Vault, although he privately doubts whether it will be enough to defeat Xiao Wu 18.

Public Confession and Departure from Nuoding

• After Tang San loses, Yu Xiaogang disputes the result and then denies that a formal wager existed. Tang San supports his denial 22 23.
• His accusation that Yao Xuan secretly filmed him fails to turn the crowd against his opponent; Yao Xuan openly admits planting the Recording Soul Tool 24.
• Yao Xuan challenges his theories, exposes his ambition to improve his reputation through Tang San, and forces him to kneel under overwhelming pressure 25 27 28.
• After Yao Xuan presses his face into the dirt and nearly suffocates him, Yu Xiaogang yields. His admission that he is a fraud and fake Grandmaster is amplified throughout the academy 29 30.
• Once released, he attacks Yao Xuan from behind. Yao Xuan disperses Luo Sanpao and knocks him into a cesspit 30 31 32.
• Yu Xiaogang offers money and then an apprenticeship to anyone willing to rescue him, but the watching students mock him. He and Tang San leave Nuoding Academy secretly that night 32 33.

Return at Shrek Academy

• Five years later, Yu Xiaogang arrives at Shrek seeking Flender’s protection and instead encounters Yao Xuan. The sight revives his terror of the Nuoding humiliation 46 47.
• Yao Xuan refuses to let him leave freely and imposes another six-month team battle: victory permits departure, while defeat carries the threatened punishment of permanent castration. Refusal would bring the punishment immediately 47.
• Yu Xiaogang trains the students through running and arena combat. After three months, he requests a hunting trip for Tang San and Oscar, whose Soul Power has reached a bottleneck 49.
• Yao Xuan accompanies the party to Sunset Forest. Yu Xiaogang remains unable to openly resist because Yao Xuan has implanted Power of Destruction in his head, as well as in Flender’s and Zhao Wuji’s 49.

Notable Quotes

“When it comes to researching Martial Souls, if I call myself second, no one would dare claim to be first!” 6

“Although your first soul ring is a little lacking, there are no useless soul rings, only useless Soul Masters.” 18

“I admit it! I’m a fraud and a Fake Grandmaster!” 30