Ming Zhao

Biodata

Power Progression

Background and History

Origins and Shrek’s Pursuit

Ming Zhao is described as a being who died at the moment of extreme yin and was born at the moment of extreme yang. His constitution is also characterized as a Yin fate paired with a Yang body, making balanced yin–yang environments especially valuable to his cultivation 20 47.

Before the opening mission, he had already reduced a town of several thousand inhabitants to a ghostly wasteland overnight and killed a Shrek squad comprising three Soul Kings and two Soul Emperors. Shrek subsequently sent twelve Inner Court elites led by Zhang Lexuan, with Xuan Zi accompanying them, into Departed Soul Mountain Ravine. The group encountered a mental trap that drove disciples into attacking their surroundings and one another 1.

By the time Ming Zhao planted a paper spy beside Huo Yuhao, seventeen Shrek Inner Court disciples had died at his hands. Zhang Lexuan had become his Ghost Bride, while the other sixteen joined his hundred ghosts. During Shrek’s years-long pursuit, he also maintained a refuge in Mingdu, where Nana guarded his courtyard 7 58.

Intercepting Tian Meng and Hunting Li Ya

After acquiring the Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife, Ming Zhao treated its curse as a cultivation resource rather than purifying it. He then intercepted the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm before its intended sacrifice to Huo Yuhao and accepted the sacrifice himself 7 8 9.

His next target was Li Ya, a Hundred-Thousand-Year Sea Princess. He had researched her movements by slaughtering coastal villages to extract fishermen’s inherited knowledge. During their confrontation, he killed and enslaved her aquatic companions, then used them to undermine her resistance. After killing Li Ya, he made her the embodied Water Vengeful Spirit; she subsequently guided him to a safe cavern to absorb her ring and bone 11 13 14.

Destruction of Dongyang City

Ming Zhao exploited the Sea Princess Clan’s search for Li Ya’s killer by having Li Ya make Dongyang City appear to be the place of her death. The resulting attack brought her elder sister Lijing and an army of Sea Soul Beasts into battle against the city 15 16.

Concealing his domain across the battlefield, Ming Zhao harvested the dead while Li Ya interfered with Lijing’s senses. He consumed flesh, souls, resentment, and Soul Beast origin, then plundered the ruins. The Sea Princess accepted Lijing’s belief that the killer had died with Dongyang City, although she retained doubts 17 18 19 20.

Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well

Ming Zhao sent eighty-eight ghosts through Sunset Forest to locate the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. After testing the Jade Phosphor Poison Formation with a disposable scout, he forced Aromatic Silk Beauty to surrender a Silk Beauty Pill, allowing his living body to cross safely 20 21 22 25.

Within the well, he performed Skin Marries Bone to reconstruct himself and condense complementary Soul Cores. The Ice and Fire Dragon Kings’ remnant souls assisted him, supplying rings and bones in the hope that he might eventually awaken them. Instead, Ming Zhao considered enslaving their souls as replacements for his current Martial Soul embodiments 27 28.

He harvested the surviving medicines and six Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Bones before leaving, while leaving seeds behind. Upon returning to Heaven Dou City, he learned that approximately a year had passed during his cultivation 29 30.

Far North and Revenge on Shrek

To preserve future resources for his godhood attempt, Ming Zhao collected Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow and confronted the Far North’s rulers. He defeated the Ice Empress, seized control of the surrounding elemental power, and forced both her and the Snow Empress to submit. Although he denied being the Ice God, the sisters continued to believe otherwise 31 32 33 34.

He ordered them to recover and suppress their cultivation until he was ready to use their origin power. He then placed two Soul Saint ghosts in the Death Messenger’s lair to strengthen its trap against Shrek. The resulting disaster killed thirteen Shrek members, whose souls he used to replace members of his ghost army 35 36 38.

Tournament and Mingdu

In Star Luo City, Ming Zhao assumed the identity Zhao Ming and cultivated Meng Hongchen’s affection. Her connection to Jing Hongchen offered a possible route to advanced Soul Tools, particularly Level 9 Fixed Soul Guidance Shells. He secretly began altering her soul and Martial Soul, then gave her two Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Bones carrying hidden spiritual imprints 41 43 47.

He also marked Yu Mengdi during the tournament, pursued her academy’s convoy afterward, and engineered her transformation into a Fallen Angel associated with envy. After taking her as his Divine Chosen of Original Sin, he killed Ma Rulong and stole the Sword of Judgment 44 50 52 53.

In Mingdu, he marked Ye Guyi’s Sea of Consciousness for a later corruption attempt and returned to his courtyard with Yu Mengdi. He subsequently met Jing Hongchen as Zhao Ming, falsely presenting a borrowed spear manifestation as the Soul Breaking Spear 58 59.

Appearance

• General features: Feminine, bewitching facial features. After his reconstruction at the well, his skin resembles jade and his expression becomes more serene and approachable 27.
• Eyes: Awakens from the ritual with a gray-white right eye and pitch-black left eye. Later scenes describe his eyes as red and silver 27 44 51.
• Clothing: Wears a long red-and-black robe during the battle with Li Ya; later forms a white robe patterned with black from Soul Power 13 28.
• Water Vengeful Spirit possession: Becomes pale and translucent, with entirely black eyes and dark-purple lips and eye sockets 11.
• Ghost Bride possession: Enhances his appearance rather than distorting it 11.
• Zhao Ming disguise: Uses a paper figure to assume Ji Juechen’s appearance, presenting himself as a cold, white-haired swordsman carrying Chen Zifeng’s Soul Chasing Sword 42.

Personality

Ming Zhao pursues strength and amusement without moral restraint. He enjoys fear, helplessness, and psychological collapse, regarding the suffering of Li Ya and Meng Hongchen as entertainment. This preference leads him to choose Evil God Douluo over Death God Douluo: spreading terror suits him better than death alone 13 42 45.

His worldview treats domination by the strong as natural. He considers the weak legitimate nourishment for the powerful and states that he would accept the same outcome if someone stronger killed him. His ruthlessness also extends inward: he willingly dismantles his own body through a dangerous ritual to improve his future potential 21 27.

Despite his cruelty, he distinguishes negotiated promises from unsolicited favors. He spares Tian Meng because they reached an agreement, but feels no obligation to repay the Dragon Kings for assistance they offered without negotiation 28 30.

He favors preparation, disposable scouts, concealed attacks, and overwhelming weaker opponents rather than testing himself against stronger enemies. Once pursuit no longer threatens him, he readily spends time eating, sightseeing, and watching the tournament instead of cultivating continuously 11 20 21 41.

Abilities and Skills

Twin Martial Souls

Ming Zhao’s Ghost Bride and Water Vengeful Spirit can adopt the souls of suitable victims as their embodied forms 7 14.

• Ghost Bride: Embodied by Zhang Lexuan; associated with yin fire 11 14.
• Water Vengeful Spirit: Embodied by Li Ya; excels underwater, enabling rapid movement and concealment 12 14.
• Retained abilities: Both embodiments retain their memories and some techniques from life 14.
• Absolute control: Ming Zhao shares their thoughts, controls their lives and deaths, and can erase or replace them 14.
• Additional potential: Tian Meng opens a blank Martial Soul slot that can take shape after absorbing an ice-attribute Soul Ring 10.

Red and White Colliding Calamities

His Self Martial Soul Fusion Skill manifests a domain featuring ghostly wedding and funeral processions, a ghost sedan chair, and a ghost coffin 13 50.

• Binds the souls of those killed within it as servants or consumes them as nourishment 7.
• Grows stronger with his mental power 14.
• Can conceal its harvesting activity amid a chaotic battlefield 17.
• Functions as an innate Martial Soul domain 33.

Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts

Ming Zhao commands fifty paper figures and fifty female ghosts, strengthening or replacing them with harvested souls 7 19 38.

• Ghosts retain strength according to their living cultivation and subsequent nourishment 7 17.
• More talented ghosts can reproduce more of their former abilities 29.
• Within the Night Parade, he supplies their consumed power and can revive them after destruction 7.
• Ghosts are normally intangible to physical attacks unless they manifest, but specialized attacks can still damage their spirit bodies 21.
• After Dongyang City, the twelve coffin and sedan-chair bearers can briefly unleash Soul Douluo combat power with his support; the remaining eighty-eight are Soul Saints 19.

Tian Meng’s Soul Skills

The Water Vengeful Spirit’s First Soul Ring provides four complementary abilities 9.

• King of Ten Thousand Ghosts removes the earlier need to retrieve distant ghosts before their stored Ghost Qi runs out 7 9.
• Its connection can heal damaged spirit bodies and review what ghosts previously witnessed 22 38.

Li Ya’s Ring and Bone Skills

Dual Soul Cores and Dragon King Powers

His upper white yang core and lower black yin core rotate in opposite directions, forming a circulation system throughout his body 28.

• Spatial manipulation: Supports himself in midair without Soul Power, travels through space, creates insulating barriers, and compresses sealed objects 28 31.
• Holy Flame Dragon Body: A Fire Dragon King ring skill that enlarges him to three zhang, covers him in lava-like dragon scales, and greatly increases physical power 32.
• Ice and Fire Dual Polarity Dragon King Domain: A god-level torso-bone domain that can manifest ice, fire, or both together. It overcomes the Ice and Snow Empresses’ control of their home terrain 33 34.
• Reconstructed physique: The Skin Marries Bone ritual and Ice and Fire Golden Body allow him to breathe and remain unharmed within the twin springs 28.

Deception and Corruption

• Paper substitutes: Replaces his apparent body with a paper figure to evade the Ice Empress’s attack 34.
• Spiritual marks: Tracks Yu Mengdi and secretly brands Ye Guyi’s Sea of Consciousness 50 58.
• Disguised Soul Rings: Distorts their light to imitate a conventional two-yellow, two-purple, five-black configuration 53.
• Gradual corruption: Introduces Yin Fire and Nether Water into Meng Hongchen’s soul and Martial Soul, progressively increasing attachment and aligning her views with his own 47.
• Original Sin transformation: Uses fear, envy, and source energy to turn Yu Mengdi into a Fallen Angel 52.

Limitations

• Shrek’s initial intelligence identifies Light and Lightning as counters, with Fire offering partial suppression 1.
• His mortal body remains vulnerable to poison and miasma; he requires protection to enter the well 25.
• His methods are particularly lethal against Soul Masters but lack the terrain- and city-destroying power of Level 9 Fixed Soul Guidance Shells 41 47.
• His Limit Douluo-level combat strength does not mean he has reached level 99; his last stated cultivation remains level 94 41 56.

Equipment and Items

• Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife — Purchased for 200,000 Gold Soul Coins. Its curse converts life force from the Gold of Life into sinister energy that nourishes Ming Zhao, his ghosts, and his Martial Souls; he preserves its source for repeated use 7 8.
• Sea Princess left arm Soul Bone — Obtained from Li Ya; enhances mental power and grants two skills 14.
• Ice and Fire Dragon Kings’ torso Soul Bone — Jointly formed by the two Dragon Kings, covering his torso and providing four skills, including their dual-polarity domain 28 33.
• Ice and fire dragon wings — Tangible External Soul Bone wings emerging from his shoulder blades 28.
• Sword of Judgment — A Level 8 melee Soul Tool made by Jing Hongchen. Ming Zhao steals it after killing Ma Rulong 45 53.
• Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record — An incomplete version used as a reference for his own cultivation and for studying possible weaknesses in Tang San’s methods 24.
• Profound Ice Marrow bracelet — Ten pieces of Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow sealed and compressed into ice-blue skulls 31.
• Medicinal cigars — Made from Snow Silkworm, Dragon Ganoderma Leaf, Dragon’s Blood Grass, and Dragon Whisker Vine harvested from the well 56.

Relationships

• Zhang Lexuan — Former Shrek pursuer, killed and made his Ghost Bride. Her loyalty as his Martial Soul is compulsory 7 14.
• Li Ya — Murdered for her ring and bone, then made his Water Vengeful Spirit. Her retained knowledge enables his escape from the Ice Sea and manipulation of her family 14 15 17.
• Sky Dream Ice Silkworm / Tian Meng — Sacrifices himself to Ming Zhao and later surrenders his remaining origin seals out of fear. Ming Zhao honors their agreement so long as he remains obedient 9 29 30.
• Ice Empress and Snow Empress — Defeated subordinates whom he preserves as future sources of origin power for his godhood attempt 34 35 36.
• Meng Hongchen — Romantic target approached under the Zhao Ming identity. He exploits her affection, secretly corrupts her, and gives her spiritually marked Soul Bones 43 45 47.
• Yu Mengdi — His submissive Divine Chosen of Original Sin, associated with envy. He transforms her Martial Soul, gives her Narcissus Jade Muscle Bone, and helps obtain her Sixth Soul Ring 52 53 56.
• Nana — Maid entrusted with guarding his Mingdu courtyard 58.
• Ye Guyi — Prospective corruption target whose Sea of Consciousness he secretly marks 58.
• Xuan Zi — Shrek pursuer repeatedly left responsible for disasters Ming Zhao engineers against the academy 1 38.
• Mu En — The only Shrek figure Ming Zhao still considers worthy of serious attention after the academy withdraws from the tournament 40.
• Jing Hongchen — Meng Hongchen’s grandfather; deceived by Ming Zhao’s Zhao Ming identity and fabricated Soul Breaking Spear 59.

Goal: Independent Godhood

• Cultivate to level 99 through his own efforts before filling his remaining Soul Ring and Soul Bone slots 30 35.
• Reserve the Ice and Snow Empresses’ origin power, along with the Dragon Kings’ souls, for an eventual attempt to force the level-100 breakthrough 30 35.
• After reaching level 100, use the power of laws to condense a Godhood of his own rather than depend on inheritance 35.
• Develop followers associated with the Seven Deadly Sins while retaining safeguards against their betrayal 44 47 52.