Du Qinggang

Biodata

Background / History

Du Qinggang joined the Divine Mark Association before serving in the Demon Suppression Army. Several years before the story, the Association suffered heavy casualties defending the Holy City and recalled him because it lacked personnel. He describes both organizations as defenders of humanity, with the army fighting demons beyond the borders and the Association handling domestic threats and public order 23.

During his military service, he knew the man later called Ghost Face, who regarded him as a longtime rival. Ghost Face eventually murdered eleven soldiers after being caught reselling military supplies in collusion with outsiders. Du Qinggang remembered the victims by name and sought revenge for them 21 22.

Appearance

• Hair: Untidy enough to resemble a bird’s nest 1.
• Clothing: Initially wears a suit jacket with shorts; later appears in a white T-shirt and baggy shorts 1 4.
• Footwear: Frequently wears slippers or flip-flops, including on a mission beyond the city’s protective grid 20 41.
• Habits: Often has a cigarette in his mouth. His poor hygiene, particularly his unwashed feet, repeatedly disgusts Duan Ming 1 20 37.

Personality

Du Qinggang is boastful, crude, and deliberately ridiculous. His first classroom appearance includes an implausible joke about smoking, and a student recognizes him from an overnight internet-café session with a 1–9 record. He enjoys praise, plays pranks, and exchanges insults with Duan Ming more like a friend than a conventional teacher 1 5 8 41.

His teaching is much harsher than his casual appearance suggests. He pushes students beyond their limits because monsters will show them no mercy, warning that inadequate training can endanger their future teammates. He values adaptability, courage, and solidarity, and is more concerned about students being too afraid to stand up for themselves than about their hot-blooded behavior 7 18 39.

He is fiercely loyal to humanity’s defenders and openly enraged by people who murder them. Nevertheless, he respects students’ freedom to choose military service, civilian protection work, or an ordinary life after graduation. His idealism also leaves room for practical concerns: he readily accepts criminal bounties because he still needs money for food and cigarettes 21 22 23.

Abilities & Skills

Divine Marks

Du Qinggang possesses five Divine Marks, though their awakenings are not shown 2.

• Initially evades Duan Ming’s attacks during private training without activating any Divine Marks 41.
• Begins using his first Divine Mark on the sixth day as Duan Ming improves 41.
• Later trains with two Divine Marks active; Duan Ming eventually cuts the apple he is holding within five minutes 42.

Slaughter Space

His Power of God creates an independent space into which he can take enemies 21.

Qi Control and Physical Combat

Du Qinggang can produce considerable force and speed through Qi alone 5 41.

• Shatters the ground by gently lowering his foot, without using a Divine Mark 5.
• Gathers Qi in his eyes to inspect students’ Qi and assess their use of Divine Marks 6.
• Evades eight or nine of Duan Ming’s saber attacks without moving his feet from their original position 41.
• Defeats Ghost Face, another five-mark Divine Power Master, inside Slaughter Space 22.

Saber Skills

Du Qinggang used a saber before awakening his Power of God. Despite his greater overall strength, he acknowledges that Duan Ming’s saber technique surpasses his own 15 16 41.

• Recognizes the difference between fast blade work and fast bodily movement 41.
• Identifies Duan Ming’s movement speed as a potentially fatal weakness and designs training around correcting it 41.

Combat Instruction

His lessons emphasize sustained Qi control, explosive power, speed, and composure 5 7 8 18.

• Qi endurance: Requires students to maintain Qi through exhausting practice intervals 7.
• Reaction testing: Uses a dinosaur costume to frighten students and test whether they remain calm 8.
• Strength and speed: Orders students to break ten head-sized stones using their bodies and complete two 500-meter laps within two minutes 18.
• Field preparation: Includes nighttime sessions, rain training, and going without food during a month-long training period 23.
• Private instruction: Holds an apple for Duan Ming to cut while he dodges, progressively increasing the difficulty 41 42.

Equipment / Items

• Red die — Used to attempt activation of Slaughter Space 21.
• Divine Mark Association badge — Establishes his authority and allows passage through the city’s protective grid checkpoints 20 23.
• Jeep — Transports Duan Ming outside the city and to the City Protection Bureau 20 42.
• Steel saber — Supplies one for Duan Ming’s apple-cutting exercise 41.
• Cigarettes — Frequently smokes during conversations, travel, and missions 1 20 22 23.

Relationships

• Duan Ming — Student and private trainee. Du Qinggang initially worries that his exceptional talent could become dangerous if misdirected, but grows to admire him and helps broaden his concern from protecting family to protecting humanity 6 14 22 23.
• Li Zhengming — Principal and working associate. They discuss student training, casualties, and city defense, while exchanging irreverent jokes 7 9 14.
• Lin Qiao — Teaching colleague. She assists with his classes, discusses Duan Ming’s unusual abilities with him, and worries about the physical toll of his training 4 6 7.
• Ghost Face — Former military acquaintance turned enemy. Du Qinggang confronts him over the murder of soldiers and defeats him using Slaughter Space 21 22.
• Huang Shanya — Respected senior. Du Qinggang addresses him with unusual deference and recognizes his strength as the legendary Human Weapon 42.
• Fang Cheng — Student whose leadership potential he notices during the cafeteria confrontation; he believes Fang Cheng could become a military squad leader if he can endure the hardship 37.
• Director Zhang — School official he openly disdains. He refuses Zhang’s appeal to intervene in the cafeteria dispute and later chases and beats him 37 39.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Awakening Ceremony and First-Year Training

Du Qinggang arrives to supervise the annual Divine Mark awakening and temporarily watches Lin Qiao’s class. After considering the students’ future responsibility for defending humanity, he decides to remain as a combat instructor rather than immediately return to his squad 1 2 3 4.

Duan Ming repeatedly attracts his attention through unusual composure and Qi control. When a monster infiltrates Jiang City, Du Qinggang leads the school’s fourth-years and half its teachers into a joint search operation with the City Protection Bureau 2 5 6 9.

Ghost Face Hunt

Du Qinggang takes Duan Ming beyond the protective grid to pursue an A-rank wanted criminal. He isolates Ghost Face with Slaughter Space while leaving the younger accomplice to Duan Ming, having judged that the student’s speed and technique could overcome the opponent’s stronger Qi 20 21 22.

Afterward, he explains Ghost Face’s crimes and the solidarity of the Demon Suppression Army. Ghost Face is subsequently identified as dead, while the surviving accomplice is to be transferred to the Divine Mark Association 22 23.

School Conflicts and Private Training

Following the Church of the Dark Night’s school invasion, Du Qinggang publicly describes it as a burglary by lawbreakers. During the later cafeteria confrontation involving Zhao Qinghai, he supports the students’ solidarity rather than treating their collective resistance as a major disciplinary offense 30 37 39.

He then gives Duan Ming private apple-cutting lessons to improve his movement speed and Qi. Duan Ming progresses from barely forcing him to move to cutting the apple while Du Qinggang uses two Divine Marks 41 42.

Jiang City Grid Defense

When authorities learn that the Church of the Dark Night intends to sabotage Jiang City’s electric grid, Du Qinggang joins the defense and heads north. He orders Duan Ming to remain at school and cancel his classmate’s birthday gathering 43.

He survives the ensuing battle with a black eye. His phone is destroyed at the start, preventing him from receiving Duan Ming’s warning. After Huang Shanya dies defeating the Ghost Samurai, Du Qinggang takes charge of his body at Li Zhengming’s instruction 47.

Notable Quotes

“The rise and fall of humanity is everyone’s responsibility!” 21

“Whether you want to be a Divine Power Master who protects civilians or a civilian protected by Divine Power Masters, I hope you’ll think it through for yourselves.” 7

“That’s true, but without money, I can’t even afford cigarettes or get enough to eat. How am I supposed to work for the human race then?” 23