Xiao Hongchen

Biodata

Power Progression

Appearance

• Build and features: Slender, with delicate facial features and exceptionally fair hands 55.
• Eyes: Bright blue, initially described as shining with strong confidence 55.
• Martial Soul possession: His body becomes golden and an additional golden leg emerges behind him. More developed transformations increase his musculature and skin resilience 56 120.
• Golden Attachment: Covers his body in a liquid-gold form resembling a metal giant 115.

Personality

Xiao Hongchen begins as an exceptionally proud student who considers Soul Engineering rank the proper measure of leadership at a Soul Engineering academy. He challenges Xu Zhengyang’s suitability as class monitor because Xu is initially only a Level 1 Soul Engineer, and later attacks his low Innate Soul Power when opposing additional physical training 59 62 70.

His pride also makes him persistent. Repeated defeats drive him to train harder rather than abandon the rivalry. He and Meng Hongchen honor their lost wagers, repeatedly challenge Xu Zhengyang, and become the class’s most enthusiastic participants in physical conditioning 75 77.

He is fiercely protective of his sister, reacting with rage when Xu Zhengyang injures her. In private, he is more playful, teasing Xu Zhengyang about his interest in Yu Mengdi and provoking an embarrassed response from Meng Hongchen 73 100.

Although he remains boastful during the tournament, experience makes his judgment more measured. After fighting Shrek, he openly acknowledges its students’ physical conditioning, Martial Soul mastery, tenacity, and ability to react under mortal danger 98 135.

Abilities & Skills

Three-Legged Golden Toad

A supreme-grade Beast Martial Soul with powerful metal attributes, speed, and both offensive and defensive capabilities 62 80.

• Enhances his body through possession, strengthening his limbs, muscles, and skin 120.
• Supports rapid Soul Tool deployment and extensive metal manipulation 61 120.
• Can form large metal armor for defense 61.
• Allows him to turn a door and its lock to gold and open them 77.

First Soul Skill: Metal Control

Improves his control over metal and affinity with metal elements 61.

• Increases the quantity of metal he can manipulate and his compatibility with it 113.
• Works with Gold Form Condensation to create numerous temporary Soul Cannons 61.

Second Soul Skill: Gold Boiling

Temporarily places his Soul Power in a boiling state, greatly strengthening metal control 61.

• Increases Soul Skill power and accelerates the activation of other Soul Skills 113.
• Can absorb metal elements from the air 113.
• Enables him to gather surrounding metal into a single large Soul Cannon 61.

Third Soul Skill: Gold Form Condensation

Temporarily condenses controlled metal and metal elements into functional structures 61.

• Uses spiritual power to carve Soul Tool cores, creating temporary Soul Tools 61.
• Can produce dozens of cannon barrels around his body; later combinations generate hundreds 61 113.
• Early large-cannon applications require lengthy preparation, leaving openings for close-range opponents 62.

Fourth Soul Skill: Gold Sacrifice

Burns internal Soul Power to strengthen his control over the metal attribute and increase damage 80.

• Can turn his hand into a sharp golden claw for a sudden close-range strike 80.
• Can also restore his own Soul Power 80.
• Defeats Chen Fei when Xiao abruptly switches from Soul Tool combat to a Martial Soul attack 80.

Fifth Soul Skill: Golden Attachment

Transforms his body into a liquid-gold state and further enhances metal control 115.

• Negates eighty percent of physical attacks 115.
• Withstands attacks from Ling Luochen, Wang Dong, and Bei Bei after Shrek isolates him 115.
• Allows him to maintain his position while deploying a large retaliatory cannon barrage 115.

Soul Engineering and Artillery

Xiao Hongchen combines metal manipulation with refined Soul Tool operation, deploying large numbers of cannons for sustained ranged suppression 98 108.

• Uses simultaneous fire from more than a hundred barrels to occupy four Shrek competitors 115 116.
• Combines his first three Soul Skills to merge his Soul Tools into one enormous cannon 73.
• Operates Level 6 offensive Soul Tools despite his documented Level 5 Soul Engineer rank 121.

Close Combat and Physical Conditioning

Initially reliant on ranged firepower, Xiao develops into a fighter who cultivates both Soul Master and Soul Engineer abilities 62 77 80.

• Learns to apply his enhancement skills directly to his Martial Soul rather than exclusively to Soul Tools 74 77.
• Counters Jiang Nannan’s Waist Bow through Martial Soul possession and physical strength 120.
• Earns Zhou Yi’s assessment that his conditioning, close combat, and Martial Soul use are no worse than those of Shrek’s Soul Kings 121.
• By rank sixty-four, can defeat many Level 7 Soul Engineers 153.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Soul Cannons: Uses Level 5 cannons against He Caitou and a Level 6 cannon against Dai Yueheng 120 121.
• Thunder Giant Cannon: Blasts Dai Yueheng away immediately after Xiao escapes a close-range attack 121.
• Paralysis Ray: A Level 6 Soul Tool used during his duel with Dai Yueheng 121.
• Ring of Teleportation: Moves him approximately eight meters behind Dai Yueheng to evade an attack and counterfire 121.
• Soul bombs: Supplements his cannon fire with thrown explosives 121.
• Invincible Shields: Uses several while enduring Dai Yueheng’s attacks 121.
• Soul Tool armor: Provides protection alongside armor formed through metal control 61.
• Ice Giant Dragon Head Soul Bone: Allocated to Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen from the tournament rewards; the passage does not specify which sibling absorbs it 129.

History

Enrollment and Rivalry with Xu Zhengyang

As Jing Hongchen’s grandson, Xiao Hongchen lives with his family inside the academy. He enters Class One at twelve with rank thirty-nine Soul Power and a reputation as one of the Sun Moon Empire’s greatest talents 55 63.

He contests Xu Zhengyang’s claim to class leadership, arguing that his superior Soul Engineer rank makes him better qualified. The dispute leads to a two-on-one match in which Xiao and Meng Hongchen suffer a decisive defeat. Xu identifies Xiao’s dependence on powerful Soul Tools, slow preparation, and poor close-range adaptability as major weaknesses. Xiao subsequently becomes deputy monitor under Xu 59 60 61 62 63.

His opposition to additional physical training sparks another confrontation: Xu challenges all thirty-nine classmates and defeats them together. Afterward, Jing Hongchen urges the siblings to recognize the importance of physical fitness, Martial Soul application, and combat experience. Both begin training especially hard 70 73 75.

Over the following year, Xiao repeatedly loses to Xu but steadily improves. He chooses the Practical Control Department rather than the War Department to develop his Martial Soul combat abilities, with his grandfather’s support 77.

Tournament Preparation

Xiao joins the Sun Moon academy team as a second-year reserve, already a rank forty-six Soul Ancestor and Level 4 Soul Engineer. In an assessment against starting member Chen Fei, he wins by unexpectedly using Gold Sacrifice for a close-range attack 80.

He also defeats several older students during the Practical Control Department’s challenge tournament. Watching Xu Zhengyang and Ji Juechen pushes him into even more intense cultivation, and he becomes the academy’s youngest Soul King at thirteen 82 85.

All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament

Rather than conceal Xiao’s abilities, Xu Zhengyang advocates giving him frequent matches to develop battlefield experience. Xiao becomes one of the tournament’s most conspicuous young competitors, defeating four opponents in under ten minutes during a round-robin match before their team surrenders 97 98 102.

During the Starlight Auction House’s embryo auction, Xiao becomes fixated on the possibility of gaining a second Martial Soul. Xu forcibly brings him back to his senses and warns that the embryo is lethally dangerous. Xiao apologizes, though he later bids aggressively for it; he withdraws when an unidentified competitor offers 190 million Gold Soul Coins 104 106.

Against Shrek in the final team battle, Xu Sanshi uses Xuanming Displacement to isolate him. Xiao withstands the surrounding attackers through Golden Attachment, then occupies Ling Luochen, Bei Bei, Huo Yuhao, and Wang Dong with cannon fire 115 116.

The Sun Moon Team ultimately wins the championship. On its return, Xiao and Meng receive the allocation of the Ice Giant Dragon Head Soul Bone 127 129.

Academy Reform and Later Growth

After the tournament, Xiao credits Xu’s planning for avoiding a far more costly struggle against Shrek. He accompanies the academy leadership in welcoming the incoming Zhengtian Academy teachers and students, whose arrival establishes a fuller Soul Master curriculum 135 137 153.

Over the next two and a half years, he reaches rank sixty-four Soul Emperor. His progress becomes a leading example of the academy’s combined Soul Master and Soul Engineer training reforms. Reaching Soul Sage before the next tournament is considered possible, but is not yet a documented breakthrough 153.

Relationships

• Meng Hongchen — Younger biological sister and frequent combat partner. Their coordination is excellent, and Xiao reacts fiercely when she is injured 55 61 73 77.
• Jing Hongchen — Grandfather, academy dean, and master of the Illustrious Virtue Hall. Supports Xiao’s development, refuses to retaliate over his student defeats, and personally organizes the hunt for his fifth Soul Ring 63 77 85 102.
• Xu Zhengyang — Class monitor, rival, teammate, and eventual close companion. His repeated victories force Xiao to reconsider his training; Xiao later acknowledges the importance of Xu’s tournament strategy 63 77 100 135.
• Xu Jie — Class teacher and Practical Control Department instructor. Appoints Xiao deputy monitor and implements the class’s regular conditioning and combat assessments 63 75 77.
• Ma Rufeng — Tournament team leader and trainer who oversees Xiao’s reserve assessment and preparation 80.
• Dai Yueheng — Shrek opponent whose final duel with Xiao ends in mutual elimination 121.

Notable Quotes

“Sooner or later, I'll win back what I lost in today's humiliation.” 63

“Shrek Academy is a terrifying opponent. When I fought their people this time, our team would never have won so easily without your planning.” 135