Lu Zhao

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Early Life and Transmigration

Lu Zhao was a narcotics officer in his previous life and died arresting drug dealers at twenty-six. He was reborn into a farming family in the South Sea West Circuit. His father was a former soldier who worked in the city, while his mother worked in textiles 1.

During the Great Cataclysm, his father, elder brother, uncles, and cousins answered the Federation’s mobilization and never returned. Lu Zhao became the Lu family’s only surviving male. As a martyr’s family member, he received sponsored schooling in Cangwu City, where Tang Fen supervised his upbringing and education 2 3.

A later flood-control failure destroyed his hometown and killed older women of the Lu family who had remained there. His immediate household had already relocated to Cangwu City because of his mother’s heart condition and escaped the disaster 34.

Imperial Capital University

Lu Zhao entered Imperial Capital University at eighteen in the lunar year 3234. He initially ranked two thousandth in his year, lacking the educational resources available to wealthier students. Unable to afford enough life supplements, he relied on free cafeteria protein and relentless training. His eating habits earned him the mocking nickname “Straight Gut” 3.

University recognition brought an additional supplement allowance. His ranking eventually rose into the top hundred, ending the public ridicule, and he reached twelfth place by his fourth year. After overcoming spiritual overflow, he also became the top student in his department 4 5.

Chen Qian repeatedly pursued him despite his refusals. When she grabbed him during a confrontation, he slapped her and walked away. Her connections to the family of the Martial Marquis of Jiangbei subsequently obstructed his career after graduation 3 4.

Border Service

Lu Zhao returned to his home region and spent four years in border service. Lü Jinshan repeatedly delayed his advancement or assigned him posts without meaningful authority. Zhang Like helped him obtain frontline duties and command of a reinforced platoon 1 2 6.

Although he resented the political suppression, Lu Zhao considered protecting his hometown worthwhile. Before his arrival, demonic beasts killed at least ten people annually across the surrounding three counties and eight townships; he reported no such deaths during the following three years 2.

Appearance

• Hair: Black, extending past his ears and falling over his eyes 3.
• Face: Handsome, with a sharply defined jawline; both Zhang Like and Lin Zhiyan notice his looks 3 13.
• Eyes and expression: Chronic insomnia gives him a hostile, “dead man’s air.” Renewed hope through cultivation makes him smile more often 13.
• Bearing: Habitually upright and military, even when seated for Daoist instruction 11.
• Distinguishing wear: His feet are heavily callused from mountain patrols 2.

Personality

Lu Zhao’s loyalty is to the Federation and its people rather than to powerful individuals. He sees his service as protecting the land his father’s generation died defending. He refuses to leave frontline work before flood season ends and rejects the idea of allowing a dangerous mistake merely to discredit an opponent 2 6 18 34.

He is stubborn under pressure and particularly resistant to humiliation. Financial strain over his mother’s treatment once drove him to apologize to Chen Qian, but her dismissive response convinced him never to beg for favor again. Nevertheless, he distinguishes cooperation from submission and later accepts the possibility of working with the Lin Family without becoming dependent on it 4 18 50.

Disciplined and austere, he keeps a nearly empty, meticulously tidy room, sleeps on a hardboard bed, and follows rigid routines. He approaches cultivation through the definitions and reasoning of modern education, sometimes finding Shao Yuanjie’s metaphysical explanations frustrating. A clear path forward nevertheless makes him willing to endure severe pain and sustained practice 3 11 14 29 32.

His severity does not prevent close attachments. Soldiers prefer him despite his strictness, and conversations with his niece visibly soften his expression. He also acknowledges personal limits: he cannot wholly disregard private ties like Hai Rui, nor pursue power without restraint like Yan Song 18 48 50.

Abilities & Skills

Precision Telekinesis and Gunfire

• Manipulates inanimate objects with millimeter-level precision; the ability emphasizes control rather than lifting strength 12 13.
• Guides bullets in flight, allowing reliable hits within 800 meters early in the story and circular trajectories within 500 meters 2.
• Later begins shooting beyond his former customary 800-meter range 14.
• Uses precise headshots to kill opponents above his own stage. Lin Zhiyan estimates that no more than ten people in the Federation can match his accuracy 43.
• At a measured limit of 41.5 grams, he remains 4.5 grams short of the cited 46-gram projectile weight for a Federation 12.7 mm anti-materiel round 13.

Mental Detection

• Projects spiritual power to obtain rough outlines of his surroundings and locate targets 9 12.
• Uses detection to identify fresh tracks and follow smugglers through Ant Ridge 37.
• Has much less detailed detection than Li Shaoqing, whose ability could produce a three-dimensional image across more than ten thousand meters 12.
• Possesses unusually strong mental power because he has lived two lives, but involuntary exploration of the mental world causes insomnia and sensitivity to densely layered sounds 2.

Spirit Refining

• Shao Yuanjie’s technique grants a direct mental attack despite Lu Zhao’s original outwardly developed ability traits 12.
• Manifests as a white worm launched like a projectile 12 39.
• Initially disrupts concentration; later causes dizziness as the worm grows larger 39.
• Helps him kill physically formidable, metal-affinity criminals quickly 39.
• Remains short of confirmed Minor Accomplishment at its latest explicit assessment 39.

Qi Cultivation

• Uses Shao Yuanjie’s breathing instruction to improve the conversion of nourishment into vitality 5 8.
• Raises development far beyond his previous rate of roughly one vitality point per hundred days on low-grade supplements 5.
• With inconsistent resources, his daily gains range from approximately 0.08 to 0.15, averaging around three points per month 29.
• Requires substantial nutritional support: ideal practice consumes three supplement bottles daily, far exceeding his initial monthly quota of eleven 29.
• Discovers that Honghualang accelerates his development 40.

Visualization Method

• Trains the consciousness form’s five senses before the second stage rather than waiting for them to develop naturally 28 29.
• Forms part of Shao Yuanjie’s path toward the Five Viscera Gods, Inner Landscape, Spirit Platform, and eventual Foundation Establishment; these remain future objectives 29.
• Interprets taste as awareness of food, smell as awareness of time, and touch as awareness of other people 49.
• Associates hearing with discerning people’s hearts, allowing him to detect subtle emotional changes such as nervousness—not read thoughts 49.
• Begins understanding sight through recognizing and transforming the external world 49.

Primordial Unity Access

• Enters Primordial Unity through the mental world and receives instruction at Shao Yuanjie’s temple 5 49.
• Learns a formula that transfers a Fate Bone from the physical world into Primordial Unity 12.
• The transfer formula works only on Fate Bones; it does not give him general-purpose storage or ordinary-object transportation 12.

Physical Conditioning and Fieldcraft

• Can run one hundred meters in approximately 7.5 seconds and sustain that pace for an hour without a load 23.
• Has senses several times sharper than an ordinary person’s, accompanied by heightened sensitivity to pain 32.
• Combines mountain-patrol experience, surveillance, document analysis, and local knowledge in smuggling investigations 26 37.
• Commands frontline troops and prepares flood-control plans grounded in the dangers of flash floods and waterborne demonic beasts 6 31 34.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Service rifle and ammunition — Primary weapons for demonic-beast hunting and telekinetically guided shooting 1 2.
• Sniper rifle — Requisitioned alongside a combat-ready helicopter when ordered to reinforce the Ning County operation 21.
• Blood analyzer — Portable device used to measure vitality from a fingertip blood sample 5 29 40.
• Life supplements — Essential cultivation resources purchased through loans, service quotas, and hunting income 8 16 29.
• Tequ and Honghualang — Later cultivation supplies; Honghualang produces a noticeably larger vitality gain 40 41.
• Fate Bone transferred to Primordial Unity — Secretly removed during the Ant Ridge search and supplied to Shao Yuanjie, who uses Fate Bones to shape objects in the mental world 12 27.

Relationships

• Shao Yuanjie — Teacher and cultivation guide. Lu Zhao formally becomes his disciple, but may call him “teacher,” not “master,” until he constructs his own Inner Landscape. Shao Yuanjie also advises him on political independence 28 49 50.
• Zhang Like — Superior, close friend, and principal supporter at the station. Lu Zhao saved him in a drug-trafficker shootout; Zhang Like helps his career and repeatedly lends him money 2 4 8 37.
• Liu Qiang — Trainee and patrol partner who calls him “Brother Lu.” Remains loyal when Lü Jinshan tries to implicate Lu Zhao and assists with beast hunts and the discovery of a smuggling route 1 10 14.
• Lin Zhiyan — Fellow Imperial Capital graduate, mental-type transcendent, and task-force leader. Their cooperation offers Lu Zhao influence against Lü Jinshan, but also risks entangling him in the Lin–Chen struggle. No romance is established, despite his teacher’s prediction of an affinity 13 40 43 50.
• Chen Qian — Rejected university pursuer whose family connections keep him confined to the border station. His later apology fails to resolve the situation 3 4.
• Lü Jinshan — Station chief and immediate political opponent. Delays Lu Zhao’s advancement, blocks his deployment, and attempts to exchange career support for compliance 6 24 30.
• Liang Fei — Lü Jinshan’s subordinate and Lu Zhao’s replacement as reinforced-platoon commander. Previously uses training assignments to make trouble for him 30 31.
• Luo Xiuhua — Mother, whose chronic heart disease requires recurrent hospitalization. They exchange monthly calls; she asks him to protect his health without interfering in his decisions 4 48.
• Lu Xiaotong — Niece, for whom he serves as a father figure after his elder brother’s death. Her everyday conversation helps him comprehend touch in the Visualization Method 4 48 49.
• Tang Fen — Former care-home director and foster-parent figure. Offers to help him move into teaching and mediate his dispute with the Chen Family 3.
• Li Shaoqing — Deceased armored-company commander and original holder of Lu Zhao’s inherited Divine Ability 3.
• Li Dongxue — Li Shaoqing’s daughter, formerly linked to Lu Zhao through spiritual overflow. He cuts contact to restore his mental stability and protect her privacy 5.
• Zhang Laoniu — Veteran guard and Zhang Like’s second uncle. Becomes close to Lu Zhao after advising him about Ant Ridge and later supplies information about Lü Jinshan’s smuggling-connected brother 6 26.
• Chen Hongtao — Temporary station commander who restores Lu Zhao to flood-prevention work after Lü Jinshan’s suspension 34 35.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Fate Bone Investigation and Ant Ridge Smuggling

Lu Zhao kills a fugitive whose death draws a special investigation team to the station. While authorities search for the fugitive’s hidden item, Lu Zhao secretly transfers a Fate Bone into Primordial Unity. A subsequent hunting trip with Liu Qiang reveals an established smuggling route behind Ant Ridge 2 8 12 14.

After learning that two border soldiers were executed rather than reveal information about Lamefoot Seven’s killer, he agrees to join the pursuit of the criminals. He also warns Zhang Like that the neglected route could expose the station to a dereliction-of-duty investigation 16.

Ning County Rescue

Initially kept out of the operation, Lu Zhao is finally ordered to reinforce the ambushed task force and departs by helicopter with a sniper rifle. His intervention saves border soldiers facing a metal-affinity transcendent 18 21 24.

When the Special Response team confronts him over its six dead, he identifies Lü Jinshan as the chief who blocked his earlier deployment. The rescue strengthens his standing among frontline personnel, even as it intensifies the dispute within the station 24.

Promotion and Flood-Control Conflict

Lu Zhao’s promotion to captain comes with a transfer from reinforced-platoon command to operations and training staff officer. He recognizes the reassignment as an attempt to remove him from the front line, refuses Lü Jinshan’s conditional offer of advancement, and insists on a proper handover to Liang Fei 30 31.

He continues intervening when flood-control decisions threaten public safety. Chen Hongtao subsequently suspends Lü Jinshan pending investigation and appoints Lu Zhao temporary flood-prevention instructor 34 35.

Fang City and the Lin–Chen Struggle

Lu Zhao and Zhang Like trace smugglers carrying life supplements from Ant Ridge into Fang City. He then receives a temporary staff appointment to the Fang City special task force, which he attributes to Lin Zhiyan’s influence 37 40.

Working with her on the hunt for Fate Bone thieves, he recognizes that the Lin Family may be challenging the Chen Family’s control of the South Sea West Circuit. He wants to use the opportunity without surrendering his independence 41 43 49.

Shao Yuanjie helps him distinguish lawful cooperation from personal dependence. Lu Zhao resolves that any assistance to Lin Zhiyan must follow proper procedures, while his ambition expands beyond escaping suppression: he declares his intention to command the realm’s Martial Marquises and safeguard the Divine Land 50.

Notable Quotes

“Before I came, at least ten people in the three counties and eight townships died to demonic beasts every year. Since I came, not one person has died in the past three years.” 2

“If the country needs me, I’ll accept any assignment. I won’t hesitate to climb a mountain of blades or plunge into a sea of flames.” 18

“Nothing can be done at the expense of the people’s property and safety!” 34

“Command the Martial Marquises of the realm, and safeguard peace in our Divine Land.” 50