Li Man

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Li Man comes from the Li Family Pharmacy. Her father, Li Ze, was a level-29 Soul Grandmaster whose Martial Soul specialized in detecting toxins and Soul Beast presences. Three years before her investigation with Dong Jian, he accepted an invitation to a Mutated Martial Soul research project promising internal Spirit Hall documents, specimens, and laboratory facilities. He disappeared six months later. Strangers subsequently delivered a death certificate, claiming that a Soul Beast had devoured him in the Star Dou Great Forest 6 7.

Li Man rejected that explanation because of her father’s sensing abilities and the Soul Hunting team supposedly protecting him. She retained his notebook and a broken badge bearing a vertical-eye symbol. When the badge matched Mo Lin’s card, she and Dong Jian agreed to investigate the organization together, with restrictions on examinations and disclosure of research 7.

Their journey to Nuoding Academy brought them into conflict with Zhou Qian of the Return to One Society, who demanded Li Ze’s research materials. Li Man identified his incomplete Martial Soul fusion and recognized the Fusion Potion he used. His statement that her father had died because he refused to understand the research intensified her hostility toward the society 12 13.

At Nuoding Academy, Li Man became a work-study student in Dorm Seven. She also found a possible connection between her father and an incomplete research record held by Yu Xiaogang: its author used Li Ze’s distinctive three-dot notation before unverified conclusions 15 16.

Personality

Li Man is quiet, methodical, and unusually direct when discussing evidence. She revises her assessments when observations contradict them and distinguishes plausible hypotheses from verified conclusions. Her disagreements with Yu Xiaogang concern the reliability and testing of his recommendations rather than a rejection of all his research 7 14 16 41.

She strongly values independence. She refuses to treat fighting from the rear as an obligation of the Control System and seeks offensive abilities so that finishing an opponent does not always depend on someone else. Even after becoming romantically involved with Dong Jian, she insists that her formation training and travel plans remain her own 23 41 215.

Her caution does not make her immune to overreaching. She once ignored a warning to stop a seven-point formation exercise and lost consciousness from mental exhaustion. Afterward, she adopted explicit training limits and reciprocal intervention rules with Dong Jian. She later voluntarily postponed consideration of an unfamiliar mental-type Soul Bone until her condition stabilized 44 212.

Abilities & Skills

Green Jade Bamboo / Green Jade Dragon Bamboo

Her Tool Martial Soul initially manifests as translucent emerald bamboo with nine sections, narrow leaves, and faintly glowing edges. Its evolved form contains golden dragon patterns that illuminate section by section as Soul Power circulates 10 94.

• Flexible weapon: Attacks joints, blocks weapons, stores an opponent’s force through bending, and releases it as a counterattack 23.
• Movement support: Uses walls, real bamboo, and other contact surfaces as pivots for changes of direction 24 38.
• Post-evolution improvements: Binding-vine toughness increases by approximately thirty percent, but binding speed does not noticeably improve 93.
• Structural limitation: Its rooted formation routes are stable, but cannot change direction as freely as Tang San’s Blue Silver Grass vines 197.

First Soul Skill: Green Bamboo Binding Formation

Obtained from a Green-Jointed Bamboo Snake, this skill creates bamboo shadows connected by vines. Its initial form establishes four positions that serve as both restraints and movement pivots 28.

• Binds enemies and restricts their available routes 28.
• Rebounds allies across the battlefield; an early test launches Dong Jian more than ten meters 28.
• Forms defensive structures around a convoy or other protected position 32.
• Allows Li Man to dismiss unnecessary shadows to conserve Soul Power and retain a single useful pivot 31.
• Originally depends heavily on fixed nodes, which Tang San exploits by planting Blue Silver Grass seeds at their locations 36.
• Destruction of connected shadows can cause Soul Power backlash 32.

Green Bamboo Rebound

Li Man uses bamboo flexibility to store and release force for movement, evasion, and attacks 23 36.

• Changes direction in midair by pressing the bamboo against a wall or another reachable surface 24 38.
• Counters Xiao Wu’s Waist Bow by creating an external anchor before the throw finishes 38.
• Can function without maintaining the full Binding Formation 36.
• Requires Soul Power to preserve the bamboo’s resilience; repeated rebounds remain costly in prolonged combat 36.

Three-Layer Bamboo Formation

Li Man separates formation operation into main, moving, and instant layers rather than actively controlling every element at once 44 49.

• Main layer: Maintains established formation positions.
• Moving layer: Shifts anchors along prepared routes.
• Instant layer: Creates short-lived pivots or blocks an opponent’s next landing point 44 49.
• Layered operation reduces simultaneous mental demands. She also uses this approach to manage the overwhelming root-system impressions encountered during her second Soul Ring absorption 52.
• A failed seven-point exercise establishes an early limit of three actively controlled formation points, with immediate shutdown required for ringing ears or blurred vision 44.

Second Soul Skill: Dragon Bamboo Piercing Formation

Obtained from the approximately 720-year-old Coiled Dragon Golden Bamboo, this skill condenses golden Soul Power into a spear at a formation eye 52.

• Pierces targets and changes direction near another formation node, allowing attacks from a second angle 52.
• Works with moving anchors rather than only stationary positions 57.
• Can penetrate gaps in contaminated roots and break an obstruction from within 53.
• Initially consumes enough Soul Power that three consecutive uses are her stated normal maximum; immediately after absorption, one use is her limit 53.

Third Soul Skill: Parasitic Bamboo Formation Eye

Creates an attached Soul Power imprint that moves with its host surface rather than remaining fixed on the ground 68.

• Can attach to surfaces such as Shi Mo’s tortoise shell and accompany his movement 68.
• Initially lasts about thirty breaths during normal movement, with a shorter duration at high speed 68.
• After her Martial Soul evolves, she can maintain three eyes on stationary targets, but only two during high-speed movement 93 94.
• Additional eyes sharply increase her mental burden 93.

Fourth Soul Skill: Ten Thousand Bamboos Return to the Veins

Obtained from the Nine-Section Dragon Vein Bamboo, this skill develops her formation into a multinode network with prepared main, reserve, and discard routes 108.

• Builds on her discovery that any surviving node can temporarily serve as the formation center 105.
• Supports route replacement when individual formation eyes are destroyed or compromised 108 125.
• Connected routes can also transmit hostile elemental contamination; automatic switching alone does not stop persistent heat from spreading 125.
• Heavy use of multiple nodes causes attention fatigue and can require reduced training or rest 175 212.

Scorched Bamboo Abandoned Path

A response to Huo Wu’s persistent fire contamination: Li Man cuts off compromised routes rather than allowing heat to circulate through the network 125 148.

• Initially discards contaminated nodes outright, sacrificing coverage to preserve the rest of the formation 125 148.
• Later distinguishes between irrecoverable nodes and those that can be temporarily sealed 149.
• Reopens sealed nodes after their fire residue weakens 149.
• Can be manipulated by controlled enemy pressure: Huo Wu uses light contamination to induce Li Man to dismantle her own network 148.

Joint Techniques with Dong Jian

Their coordination combines his force manipulation with her formation routes 72 115.

• Dragon Bamboo Tremor Formation: Prepared against the possibility that Tang San possesses an External Soul Bone providing additional support points 72.
• Vibrating Bamboo Spear: Planned to strike a ground node if ordinary attacks cannot break Tang San’s web 72.
• Mountain-Suppressing Dragon Bamboo: Uses Yin and Yang as its core and dragon bamboo as its conducting pathways. A revised shoulder, back, and waist arrangement stabilizes it for eight breaths 115.
• Later development: The complete version reaches twelve breaths and three steps; the team conceals this capability before traveling to Spirit City 175.
• Safety requirements: Both practice nearly simultaneous emergency shutdowns. The public Sealed Spine version is used according to battlefield needs rather than a repeated performance pattern 115 183.

Research, Sensing, and Medical Assessment

Li Man combines observation, pharmaceutical tools, and Martial Soul sensing to investigate unusual conditions 7 13 16.

• Uses Soul-Revealing Liquid to identify Dong Jian’s concealed energy and warn that ordinary meditation could destabilize his black and white powers 7 8.
• Detects forged claw wounds and identifies signs of Zhou Qian’s incomplete Martial Soul fusion 12 13.
• Uses bamboo contact to assess injuries and vibrations transmitted during combat 16 22.
• Applies Bamboo Heart Sensing to distinguish changes beneath ice, while recognizing that deliberately misleading cold spots can distort her interpretation 65.
• Helps guide Dugu Yan’s uncontrolled poison into a temporary vessel during a supervised extraction test 81.

Equipment / Items

• Research record book — Contains observations, combat records, hypotheses, and training restrictions 7 17 44.
• Li Ze’s notebook — Preserves her father’s research notation and helps her recognize the possible origin of Yu Xiaogang’s incomplete record 15.
• Broken vertical-eye badge — Inherited evidence connecting her father’s disappearance to the symbol carried by Mo Lin 7.
• Pharmaceutical and measuring kit — Includes medicinal herbs, a measuring tape, a small scale, medicine bottles, and different concentrations of Soul-Revealing Liquid 7.
• Silver Swan badge — Qin Ming’s conditional invitation to Heaven Dou Royal Academy, requiring her to reach level 28 by age twelve 56.
• Herb-recording bamboo slips — Document medicinal plants’ locations, life fluctuations, possible properties, and danger levels 90.

Relationships

• Li Ze — Father and research influence. His disappearance and suspicious death report motivate her investigation of the Return to One Society 7 13 15.
• Dong Jian — Research partner, longtime combat partner, and eventual romantic partner. Their relationship includes reciprocal safety rules and an explicit commitment not to replace each other’s individual goals 7 44 215.
• Dong Shan — Initially distrusts her interest in his son’s Martial Soul. Their cooperation begins only after she accepts examination and research-sharing restrictions 7.
• Qin Ming — Recruits her to Heaven Dou Royal Academy, directs team training, and helps arrange a fourth Soul Ring suited to her formation network 56 105.
• Dugu Yan — Fellow control specialist and teammate. Challenges Li Man to communicate her decisions more clearly, then coordinates poison belts with her bamboo routes 60 64 196.
• Ye Lingling — Teammate and healer who monitors her condition, stops unsafe testing, and orders rest for formation-related fatigue 81 105 175.
• Tang San — Recurring control-system rival. Their competition exposes weaknesses in each other’s routes and formations without making them outright enemies at Nuoding Academy 27 36 197.
• Xiao Wu — Sparring partner and rival. Li Man specifically develops aerial anchoring methods to counter Waist Bow and later defeats her 34 38.
• Yu Xiaogang — Research contact whose unsupported conclusions and recommended development path she repeatedly questions, while acknowledging the usefulness of some of his information 14 15 41.
• Huo Wu — Rival whose fire attacks force major revisions to Li Man’s contamination management 60 125 148 149.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Nuoding Academy

• Wins first place with Dong Jian in a two-person combat assessment before either has a Soul Ring 24.
• Protects students during the medicinal-garden Soul Beast escape and reaches level ten through her own combat efforts 27.
• Helps defend a medicinal-herb convoy on her first escort mission, preserving the cargo despite formation backlash 32.
• Loses to Tang San in the annual assessment, identifies the vulnerability of fixed formation nodes, and later defeats Xiao Wu after targeted preparation 36 38.

Dragon Spine Valley

• Her Martial Soul develops golden markings and receives a message that the Green Bamboo Key begins awakening after level eighteen 44.
• Enters the contaminated Coiled Dragon Golden Bamboo grove, protects its young shoots, severs infected roots, and defeats the parent plant 52.
• Gains her second ring while the valley keepers warn that the Green Bamboo Key is complete and “Number Zero” is next 52.

Imperial Fighting Team and Tournament

• Learns to integrate her formations into a larger team rather than relying exclusively on her partnership with Dong Jian 58 59 60.
• Helps defeat Blazing Fire through coordinated bamboo control, poison, tremors, and follow-up attacks 64.
• Repeated encounters with Huo Wu turn route contamination, node abandonment, and selective sealing into central tactical problems 125 148 149.
• Contests battlefield routes with Tang San during the tournament, prioritizing usable movement corridors over ownership of every patch of ground 196 197.
• During Demon Charm’s red fog and Yan’s terrain attacks, uses signals and bamboo paths to maintain regrouping routes and preserve a final path for Ye Lingling 204.

Lovesick Heartbreak Red and Travel Plans

• A white flower with red veins reacts to her presence after her blood falls nearby. Later identified as Lovesick Heartbreak Red, it continues responding to her feelings for Dong Jian 90 93.
• She and Dong Jian acknowledge their mutual understanding without confessing or picking the flower 138.
• After the tournament, they openly confess, agree to communicate honestly, and plan overlapping travel routes without surrendering their separate cultivation goals 215.
• On their next visit, the flower’s inner petal begins changing as Li Man recalls specific moments from their relationship; the supplied passage does not establish that she picks it 216.

Notable Quotes

“A mistaken assessment isn't worth clinging to.” 7

“Experience can help us put forward hypotheses. But it can't replace verification.” 14

“Standing in the rear isn't a rule of the Control System.” 23

“What I need is the Soul Skill that suits me best, not the blackest Soul Ring.” 105

“Just because I'm traveling with you doesn't mean I intend to leave my own path with formations for you to arrange.” 215