Yu Xiaogang

Biodata

Power Progression

Appearance

• Hair and face: An unremarkable buzz cut and ordinary features; later described as having a zombie-like expression 12 42.
• Clothing: Wears an old black outfit when visiting Dorm Seven 12.
• Mannerisms: Frequently clasps his hands behind his back, raises his chin, and adopts an aloof manner to project authority 3 14 26.

Personality

Yu Xiaogang is preoccupied with escaping his reputation as a useless Grandmaster. He sees exceptionally talented disciples as the means to restore his standing, imagining the prestige he would gain by personally raising two Titled Douluos. His interest in Tang San and Lin Chuan is consequently tied to what their achievements could do for his own reputation 4 12.

His pride contrasts sharply with his dependence on others. Despite expulsion from his clan and reliance on the Nuoding Academy dean’s hospitality, he considers himself superior to academy staff. He suppresses his anger when confronting people who can threaten his position, while privately imagining revenge 3 4 23 24.

He also treats emotional support as a means of control. After Tang San’s defeat, he comforts the boy while planning to make him completely dependent on his guidance and eventually turn him against Tang Hao. His concern for Tang San’s survival is repeatedly connected to preserving his own chance at rehabilitation 25 26 50.

Abilities & Skills

Luo Sanpao

Luo Sanpao is Yu Xiaogang’s mutated martial soul, manifesting as a piglike creature. When summoned during the Soul Hunting Forest incident, it appears in his arms alongside two yellow soul rings 44.

• First Soul Skill — “Fart Like Thunder, Earth-Shattering Luo Sanpao!”: Luo Sanpao leaps nearly five meters into the air and releases a foul-smelling yellow gas 44 45.
• Failed crowd control: During the beast tide, the gas stimulates the approaching soul beasts instead of stopping them, increasing their speed to nearly three times its previous level or more 45.
• Combat limitations: His rank-29 cultivation is insufficient to overcome the surrounding beasts, and he relies on the expectation that Tang Hao will intervene 44 45.

Martial Soul Research

Yu Xiaogang has spent roughly half his life studying martial soul texts and presents himself as the authority behind the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul. Nevertheless, he does not recognize the Qilin martial soul and speculates that Lin Chuan may possess twin martial souls 4 14.

Teaching and Persuasion

• Twin-martial-soul cultivation plan: Advises Tang San to cultivate Blue Silver Grass first and add rings to his second martial soul after building a stronger foundation 26.
• Soul-beast identification: Recognizes Solitary Bamboo and identifies a specimen approaching three hundred years old as a possible source of Tang San’s first ring 42 43.
• Restoring motivation: Redirects Tang San’s fear of Lin Chuan into an ambition for revenge, earning a renewed pledge of gratitude 26.
• Concealing contrary evidence: Withholds Lin Chuan’s apparent thousand-year first ring from Tang San because it would undermine his teaching and credibility 26.

Equipment / Items

• Spirit Hall Pope Token: Given to him by Tang Hao while entrusting Tang San’s upbringing to him. Yu Xiaogang treasures it as a source of elevated status and protection from mistreatment 24.

History

Expulsion and Life at Nuoding Academy

After being expelled from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, Yu Xiaogang lives at Nuoding Academy through his friendship with its dean. Director Su resents his reliance on the academy’s food and resources but tolerates him because of that connection 3 4.

At the academy entrance, Yu Xiaogang examines Tang San’s martial soul certificate and deduces that he has twin martial souls. He escorts the boy inside, and Tang San becomes his disciple 2 3.

Failed Recruitment of Lin Chuan

Learning that Lin Chuan also possesses innate full soul power, Yu Xiaogang hopes to recruit him as a second exceptional disciple. He visits Dorm Seven carrying bedding for Tang San, only to find his disciple unconscious and covered in foul liquid. His attempt to help ends with him vomiting over Tang San 4 12.

Yu Xiaogang subsequently attempts to impress Lin Chuan with his theories. Lin Chuan instead challenges both his cultivation philosophy and his soul-ring standards. After seeing Lin Chuan’s apparently thousand-year first ring, Yu Xiaogang repeatedly calls it fake, then carries Tang San out of the dormitory. Lin Chuan interprets his apparent breakdown as an act used to escape 13 14 15 16 17.

Tang Hao’s Instructions

After Yu Xiaogang changes Tang San’s soiled clothes, Tang Hao visits him. Yu Xiaogang’s questions provoke Tang Hao into forcing him to his knees with spiritual pressure, leaving him outwardly apologetic but privately resentful 23.

Tang Hao instructs him to nurture Tang San and encourage the boy to gain Xiao Wu’s trust, then gives him the Pope Token. Yu Xiaogang asks Tang Hao to kill Lin Chuan, but Tang Hao instead intends to subjugate the talented boy for Tang San’s benefit 24.

When Tang San wakes in distress, Yu Xiaogang slaps and then reassures him. He restores the boy’s confidence through promises about the potential of twin martial souls, while privately planning to turn him into a loyal weapon against both Lin Chuan and Tang Hao 25 26.

Soul Hunting Forest Incident

Yu Xiaogang takes Tang San to obtain his first soul ring. He identifies a nearly three-hundred-year Lone Bamboo as a fallback choice, but dismisses Tang San’s concerns about the forest’s unnatural silence. He believes Tang Hao is secretly protecting them, unaware that Tang Hao is already dead 41 42 43 44.

When a beast tide approaches, Yu Xiaogang’s first soul skill worsens the situation. Tang San retreats into a tree while Yu Xiaogang is overwhelmed and sexually assaulted by the beasts. Lin Chuan, directing events in Qilin form, intensifies the attack and prevents Tang San’s escape. Both master and disciple are eventually beaten unconscious 44 45 46 47.

Lin Chuan then binds them and drags them to a cave, where they suffer further abuse involving five goblins. After awakening, Yu Xiaogang tries to dissuade Tang San from suicide, still regarding him as essential to clearing his reputation. He then discovers that both of them have been castrated; his distress briefly gives way to malicious satisfaction that Tang San shares his injury 48 49 50.

Relationships

• Tang San — Disciple and principal hope for restoring his reputation. Tang San initially trusts his guidance deeply, but their forest ordeal exposes mutual resentment and self-preservation beneath their professed loyalty 3 26 43 45 46 47 50.
• Lin Chuan — Desired recruit turned enemy. Lin Chuan publicly challenges his theories and orchestrates the forest attacks; Yu Xiaogang seeks his death and later imagines benefiting from his subjugation 12 14 17 24 46 48.
• Tang Hao — Tang San’s father and an intimidating benefactor. Yu Xiaogang accepts his token and instructions while secretly planning revenge for being forced to kneel 23 24 26.
• Nuoding Academy’s dean — Friend whose patronage allows him to remain at the academy and discourages others from confronting him 3 12.
• Director Su — Academy administrator who resents his behavior and dependence on the dean, openly mocking his attempt to recruit another gifted child 3 4.